The purpose of this note is to draw attention to a certain correspondence between the melting-points of normal paraffins and of fatty acids and to indicate a simple interpretation of this phenomenon. If the number of carbon atoms in a normal paraffin is plotted against the corresponding melting temperature, all the points in the diagram lie very close to a smooth curve drawn among them. If a similar diagram is made for the fatty acids, the points corresponding to an even number of carbon atoms lie on a curve of the same character as that found for paraffins. The points for an odd number of carbon atoms lie on a separate but similar curve, exemplifying the well-known alternation property.