CRYPTOPIA,  A  NEW  ALKALOID  IN  OPIUM. 
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next  to  be  heated  to  ebullition  with  enough  of  rectified  spirit  to 
dissolve  the  substance.  The  solution  having  been  put  aside  will 
be  found  by  the  following  day  to  have  crystallized,  turning  the 
liquid  into  a  soft  solid,  in  consequence  of  the  abundant  crystalli- 
zation of  thebaia.  The  mass,  after  complete  crystallization,  is 
to  be  strongly  pressed  in  a  cloth,  and  the  solid  cake  powdered 
and  dissolved  in  muriatic  acid  very  much  diluted;  care  being 
taken  not  to  go  beyond  the  neutral  point.  The  filtered  liquid 
is  then  to  be  evaporated  so  as  to  obtain  a  crystallization  of  mu- 
riate of  thebaia;  the  mother  liquid,  separated  from  the  first  crop 
of  crystals,  is  further  carefully  evaporated,  at  a  heat  not  too 
strong,  for  a  second  crop  of  crystals  of  muriate  of  thebaia;  and 
if  everything  ha  s  been  properly  done,  after  the  muriate  of  the- 
baia has  crystallized,  in  the  course  of  some  weeks  the  muriate  of 
cryptopia  will  make  its  appearance,  and  may  be  readily  recog- 
nized by  the  characters  already  detailed,  and  which  cannot  allow 
of  its  being  mistaken  for  muriate  of  thebaia.  When  the  new 
body  has  fully  separated  in  a  crystalline  form,  it  becomes  a 
question  how  it  is  to  be  obtained  apart ;  for,  although  it  appears 
to  be  very  abundant,  yet  from  its  extreme  lightness  and  tenuity 
it  is  exceedingly  small  in  quantity.  The  crystallizations  of  the 
muriate  of  thebaia  and  the  muriate  of  cryptopia,  not  being  sepa- 
rated by  an  abrupt  line  of  division,  but  the  one  shading  into  the 
other,  the  separation  of  the  new  body  is  not  by  any  means  easy. 
The  first  quantity  of  the  salt  obtained  by  us,  and  the  alkaloid 
from  that  salt,  which,  through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Brady  of 
Newcastle,  we  had  the  honor  of  submitting  to  the  first  meeting 
of  the  Pharmaceutical  Conference  of  Bath,  was  obtained  by  a 
tedious  operation  of  careful  floating  off  and  re-crystallization. 
When  the  substance  had  been  obtained  as  pure  as  possible  in 
this  way,  it  was  found,  on  pure  sulphuric  acid  being  added,  to 
give  a  purple  color,  thus  showing  it  not  to  be  a  salt  of  thebaia, 
but  in  all  likelihood  to  be  rather  characteristic  of  a  new  sub- 
stance belonging  to  opium.  Afterwards,  however,  on  boiling  the 
precipitate  produced,  by  the  addition  of  ammonia  to  its  solution, 
with  strong  rectified  spirit,  a  crystallization  was  deposited  on  the 
sides  of  the  glass,  which,  with  strong  vitriol,  gave  a  deep  blue 
color  with  a  tinge  of  violet ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  mother 
