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ORYPTOPIA,  A  NEW  ALKALOID  IN  OPIUM. 
stituents  of  opium,  the  smallest  in  quantity.  An  observation 
made  by  us  quite  recently  shows,  although  we  cannot  say  to  what 
extent,  that  the  quantity  obtained  does  not  show  the  full  pro- 
portion existing  in  opium.  It  occurred  to  us  that,  as  the  crypto- 
pia  had  been  obtained  from  the  thebaia  crystallized  from  spirit, 
the  spirituous  mother  liquid,  which  had  been  pressed  out,  ought 
to  be  a  source  of  cryptopia;  and  an  examination  of  a  quantity 
of  this  liquid,  which  had  been  lying  aside  for  some  years,  com- 
pletely confirmed  our  idea.  That  liquid  we  found  to  have  be- 
come quite  gelatinous  ;  and  from  our  acquaintance  with  the  pe- 
culiar character  of  the  tendency  of  the  salts  of  cryptopia  to 
gelatinize,  we  were  led  to  examine  more  closely  the  gelatinous 
mass.  A  Stanhope  lens  showed  it  to  be  composed  of  an  infinity 
of  minute  crystalline  needles.  It  was  exceedingly  difficult  to 
separate  the  crystals,  and  we  only  succeeded  by  a  slow  filtration 
of  some  weeks,  and  at  last  by  cautious  pressure  by  means  of  a 
cloth.  When  the  pressed  and  powdered  mass  had  been  boiled 
with  rectified  spirit,  a  crystallization  was  obtained  from  the 
filtered  spirit.  On  washing  the  crystals  two  or  three  times  with 
a  little  cold  spirit,  and  then  drying  them,  the  blue  reaction  with 
strong  sulphuric  acid  at  once  proved  the  crystals  to  be  really 
cryptopia  ;*  and  the  proof  was  strengthened  by  neutralizing  the 
crystals  with  very  dilute  muriatic  acid,  when  the  characteristic 
jelly  was  formed  by  evaporation  and  cooling. 
Cryptopia,  being  a  strong  alkali,  cannot  be  mistaken  for  the 
principles  of  opium  of  an  acid  nature,  such  as  meconic  and 
,  thebolactic  acids  ;  nor  for  those  that  are  neutral  or  of  weak  alka- 
line properties,  such  as  meconine,  narceine,  narcotine,  and  papa- 
verine ;  the  other  principles  of  opium,  viz.,  morphia,  codeia,  and 
thebaia,  are  strong  alkalies,  neutralizing  the  strongest  acids.  As 
cryptopia  possesses  this  character  of  strong  alkalinity,  in  com- 
mon with  the  three  principles  last  mentioned,  nothing  more  will 
be  necessary  than  to  contrast  its  other  characters  with  theirs,  to 
find  to  what  extent  these  characters  separate  it  from  them,  and 
*  We  are  not  quite  in  a  positon  to  affirm  that  the  cryptopia  obtained 
from  the  pressed  crystalline  cake  had  been  given  by  the  crystals  seen  by 
aid  of  the  lens,  or  by  something  else  that  had  existed  side  by  side  with 
them  :  we  intend  trying  to  determine  this  point,  and  hope  to  succeed. 
