1. The nitrolignins obtained by six successive treatments of a single portion of spruce sawdust with alcoholic nitric acid have been studied. 2. The products extractable with ether from the mother liquors after the precipitation of the nitrolignin have been isolated and investigated. 3. In the nitration of lignin by Kurschner's method, part of the lignin is converted into water-soluble degradation products, which explains the low yield of lignin when this method is used as compared with the well-known sulfuric acid methods.