execute equations from a vector

Hi folks! I'm trouble with the folowing:

i have a vector called eqtns, this vector stores some line equations...

eqtns =

 8*y - 10*x - 52706542
  7*y - 7*x - 46492747
   10*y - x - 68344390
     9*x + y - 8782112
 11*x - 9*y + 59348156
 7*x - 10*y + 67060066
  9*x + 7*y - 49916813

my problem is that i want to set values for x and y end call equations one by one, with the new x and y... but if i put something like x=2, y=9, and then h=eqtns(1,1) for example, matlab just returns h= 8*y - 10*x - 52706542 without replace x and y for 2 and 9...

[Mischa Kim]

Is eqtns a symbolic expression? Can you post the entire code so we can reproduce the problem quickly?