The effects of selective removal of histones from chromatin on physical properties of the nucleoprotein complex have been examined using two dissociating agents: (1) sodium deoxycholate, which removes histone II at lowest concentrations of dissociating agent, followed by histones III and IV at slightly higher concentrations, and lastly, at still higher concentrations, by histone I; and (2) sodium chloride, which removes histone I at lowest concentrations of dissociating agent, followed by histones II, III and IV at higher concentrations. Properties studied include thermal denaturation, sedimentation velocity, flow dichroism, and the irreversible disruption of a 130 s cross-linked component of sheared chromatin. None of the structural and chemical parameters measured depends on the interaction of any one specific kind of histone with DNA. Rather, all of the properties measured are conferred upon DNA by all species of histones.