Mr, Spens <m Life Insurance. 217 



Dr. Balfour then exhibited a dried specimen of the leaves and 

 flowers of the Green Heart tree, which he had received from Dr. W. 

 H. Campbell of Demerara. This tree has long been known to mer- 

 chants as furnishing a valuable timber, which is used by carpenters and 

 ship-builders. The plant itself, however, is not known to botanists, 

 and the specimens sent by Dr. Campbell are not in such a state as to 

 allow a perfect determination of the genus and species. The plant 

 undoubtedly belongs to the natural order Lauracese. The Perianth 

 appears to be eight-cleft, hairy inside, with an unequal limb ; the stamens 

 sixteen, in two rows, with thick filaments, the anthers opening by four 

 hinged valves ; the fruit one-celled and one-seeded. 



Professor Graham has named the plant Bebeeru febrifuga; but Sir 

 W. J. Hooker does not think that we have sufficient materials for 

 ascertaining whether the plant is a new genus or not. The bark of the 

 plant is used as a febrifuge in Guiana under the name of Bebeeru 

 bark ; and Dr. Douglas Maclagan has used it as a tonic and antipe- 

 riodic in this country. He has procured two alkaline substances from 

 it, called Bebeerine and Sipeerine, and has published his analysis in 

 the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Specimens of 

 the bark, wood, and fruit were also exhibited. 



I3th March, 1844, — The President in the Chair. 



The following were admitted members of the Society: — Mr. Wm. 

 Crichton, Rev. John Graham, Mr. William Bankier, Mr. John Miller. 

 The following papers were read. 



XLIX. — On the Minimum Bate of Annwd Premiums for Insurance of 

 Select Lives from Twenty to Sixty, and on the value of Annual Addi- 

 tions to Insurances at those Ages. By William Spens, Esq. 



1. The subject I have proposed for your consideration to-night 

 cannot certainly be deemed of little importance ; on a matter on which 

 it may bo safely affirmed that a great portion of the thinking com- 

 munity is practically concerned, it is undoubtedly desirable for them 

 to ascertain their real position, and if there be any truth in the alle- 

 gation that the subject is mystified by the pamphlets and advertise- 

 ments of the Insurance Offices in their endeavours to prove their 

 superiority over one another, there can be no better cure for this than 

 a satisfactory solution of the questions here proposed for discussion. 



2. In the course of the remarks which I shall offer you, I may be 

 considered to pass too hurriedly over some points noticed, and to omit 

 others which may have been expected to be alluded to, but I think it 

 is desirable, in a paper like the present, to narrow the field for dis- 



