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1. Interest in arylhydroxylamines, because of their implication in ferrihaemoglobin formation and bladder carcinoma induction, has led to numerous investigations on the role of these compounds as a route of metabolism of aromatic amines. The literature on this subject has been reviewed.2. The metabolic pathway of N-oxidation was first shown to be of importance on the fate of certain endogenous compounds in man and animals. A brief examination of the function of these N-oxides of endogenous compounds is given.3. Recently N-oxidation as a route of drug metabolism has gained increasing interest although the detection of N-oxides so far has been fortuitous. Published data have been correlated with recent studies on the N-oxidation of nicotine, some antihistamines and amphetamine derivatives to elucidate the factors affecting the elimination of these N-oxides.