The only oils in which this ester has been found are those from the rootstock and leaves of Alpinia malaccensis and from the seeds of wartara.

At ordinary temperature methyl benzoate is a solid possessing a peculiar, intensive odor, and characterized by the following properties:

M. p. 33,4°; b. p. 2630.4)

M. p. 36°; b. p. 259,6°; d 36o/0ol,0415.5)

For the methyl cinnamate from wartara oil, Schimmel & Co.6) observed:

1) Kopp, Liebig's Annalen 94 (1855), 307, 309.

2) Perkin, Journ. chem. Soc. 69 (1896), 1174.

3) Raikow, Chem. Ztg. 24 (1900), 368.

4) Anschutz and Kinnicutt, Bert. Berichte 11 (1878), 1220. 5) Weger, Liebig's Annalen 221 (1883), 74.

6) Report of Schimmel & Co. April 1901, 59.

M. p. 36°; b. p. 256° (745 mm.); and for technical preparations of their own manufacture:

M. p. 34 to 35°; d 40o / 15 o 1,0663; nD32o 1,56816; nD34.1,56729; d 35o / 15o 1,0712; nD35.1,56816.

Methyl cinnamate is readily soluble in the ordinary organic solvents, likewise in olive oil and paraffin oil. Of 70 p. c. alcohol 2 vol. are requisite to effect solution.