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It has been the practice in this and many other laboratories to use a platinum or palladium catalyst if a hydrogenation was to be carried out in glass apparatus at room temperatures. However, improvements in the procedure for the preparation of a catalyst from the Raney nickel-aluminum alloy now makes available a catalyst which appears to be approximately as effective as platinum or palladium for catalysis of hydrogenation at pressures of 45 p. s. i. or lower. It is not implied that any of the three metals is lacking in characteristics which make it uniquely useful. For example, the inactivity of palladium against benzenoid nuclei and nitriles and its relative inactivity toward aldehydes make this catalyst particularly useful in certain selective hydrogenations. Platinum and nickel are more alike in activity in that both, under suitable conditions, are effective against almost all types of carbon-to-carbon double bonds, aldehydes, ketones, nitriles, nitro compounds and oximes. Each of them is preferred to the other for certain situations.