IT has recently been reported1 that in dimethylformamide solution, ferric chloride can photo-initiate the polymerization of acrylonitrile. We, also, have found during the course of another investigation that in aqueous solution ferric chloride can initiate the radical polymerization of acrylamide. The mechanism of initiation in this case is not necessarily photochemical, although presumably it could be so since no special precautions were taken to exclude light from the reacting system.