An interesting open question is whether a

doubly even code

exists. In [3] the odd prime numbers which can divide the order of the group of

were determined and

is the largest of these. Twenty-three is eliminated by reducing the problem to the consideration of

codes, each of which is shown to have minimum weight

or less. One of these codes, denoted by

, arises from the

construction where

and

are in one quadratic residue code and

is in the other. The weight distribution of

is given.