In 1905 one of us in conjunction with Andrew published the results of extensive experiments upon the combustion of acetylene which showed th a t when a 2C2H 2 + 0 2 or C2H 2 + 0 2 mixture was sealed up in borosilicate glass bulbs at atmospheric pressure and afterwards heated, reaction set in at 250°, or even at a somewhat lower temperature, and proceeded rapidly at 300°. Explosive combustion set in at about 350°, the ignition point being raised either by reducing the initial pressure or by

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... ion of oxygen to the equimolecular mixture. W ith regard to the slow combustion, it was shown th a t carbonic oxide and formaldehyde arise simultaneously at an early stage of the process, probably as the result of the thermal decomposition of an unstable C2H 20 2 which might possibly be -* , although only a form of polyglycolide C . OH