More than a year since my attention was directed to a statement of Hofmann's, that the action of terchloride of phosphorus on aniline yielded a white substance of crystalline character, as the investigation of this compound so produced seemed likely to be of interest, I began its examination, but circumstances prevented me from completing it at that time. The publication of Schiff's papers, however, on the metal-anilides again drew my notice to the subject, and I considered it a duty to myself to publish the results of my experiments, more especially as the reaction which forms the subject of this paper appears to have escaped the attention of that chemist.