30 
were strongly affected by polarized light, while codeine, meconine, 
narceine, papaverine, and.sulphate of morphine, were but slightly 
affected. ‘ 
Narcotine and morphine both crystallised in prisms, the former 
polarized more strongly than the latter, and had pointed ends, 
Thebaine crystallised in very characteristic plates. Meconic acid in a 
very irregular manner, some of the crystals strongly resembling 
uric acid, but the typical shape appeared to be a square prism ; 
codeine in octahedra, easily recognizable, or in prisms with pointed 
ends like those of narcotine, from which it was easily distinguished 
by its effect on the polarized ray ; meconine in six ‘sided prisms with 
dihedral summits ; narceine in tufts of silky crystals, and sulphate of 
morphine in flat ended prisms, collected in tufts. . 
A discussion followed, in which Drs. Hailifax and Corfe, Messrs. 
W. H. Smith, Sewell, Payne, B. Lomax, and Wonfor took part; and 
after a vote of thanks to Mr. Smith, the Meeting became a Con- 
versazione, when the preparations made by Mr. W. H. Smith were 
exhibited by the President (Mr. Haselwood), Messrs. Sewell, G. D. 
Sawyer, F. W. Sawyer, R. Glaisyer, W. H. Smith, and Wonfot. 
DECEMBER IITH. 
ORDINARY MEETING.—MR. WONFOR ON THE 
BALANCE OF LIFE. 
It was almost universally conceded that, with few exceptions, the 
plant obtained inorganic matter from the mineral world, and converted 
it into its own substance, and that the animal consumed the plant, 
appropriating to its own sustenance all the nutritious parts, and got 
rid of that which was useless, while the animal might itself, in turn 
serve as nutriment to another animal, by whom its parts would, more 
or less, be assimilated, and so on, until death and decay dissolved its 
frame, and returned its elements once more to what we termed the 
inorganic world, 
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