Methylated and unmethylated hexane and ether extracts of raw humus were oxidized by potassium permanganate at pH 9–10. Methylated ether extract gave 6 benzenecarboxylic acid methyl esters, 6 methoxy-benzenecarboxylic acid methyl esters, 3,4-dimethoxy-benzoic acid methyl ester, and 6 dicarboxylic acid dimethyl esters among other products. No methoxy or dimethoxy derivatives were found after oxidation of unmethylated hexane or ether extracts or methylated hexane extract. These extracts gave benzenecarboxylic acid methyl esters and dicarboxylic acid dimethyl esters. All extracts yielded fatty acids; the hexane extract was found to contain 17 percent and the ether extract 11 percent of straight chain fatty acids, free or esterified. For both extracts the molar distribution of the acids, C12-C33, was approximately the same, with C24and C22dominating. Both extracts yielded significant amounts of 1(a),3(a)-dimethylcyclohexane-1(e),2(e),3(e)-tricarboxylic acid trimethyl ester by oxidation. 1(a),3(a)-Dimethyl-2(e)-carbomethoxymethyl-cyclohexane-1(e),3(e)-dicarboxylic acid dimethyl ester was also found from the ether extract.A number of the compounds isolated have also been found after oxidation of other humic fractions, thus indicating a certain similarity in composition between especially the ether extract and these fractions. Compared to the other humic fractions the ether extract, and even more the hexane extract, yields a significantly higher amount of aliphatic structures.It is concluded that the resinous part of the ether extract contains little and the hexane extract none of the condensed phenolic structures usually present in soil organic matter. Both extracts contain cyclic aliphatic systems, probably of the abietic acid type or transformation products of this type of compound. The results indicate that both extracts also contain aromatic rings substituted or linked together by aliphatic chains of the length 6–8 CH2units.