Catalytic hydrogenation of optically active 2-pyridyl ethylcarbinol (1) formed the alkaloid conhydrine (2) stereospecifically. Application of the von Braun reaction gave conversion of (+)-conhydrine into R-(−)-3-octyl benzoate and of (−)-conhydrine into the S-(+)-antimer. Both the relative and absolute configuration of the two asymmetric centers in natural (+)-conhydrine have been determined by the combined use of optical rotatory dispersion (o.r.d.) and circular dichroism (c.d.). The results are in agreement with other physical and chemical evidence.