cryptogramic

They are evidently cryptogramic, and probably deal with the preparation and purification of saltpetre, which had only recently been discovered as a distinct body. 179 In chapter xi. there is reference to an explosive body, which can only be gunpowder; by means of it, says BACON, you may, "if you know the trick, produce a bright flash and a thundering noise."

Bygone Beliefs 1969

The translation of these cryptogramic messages by a working journalist, and their publication in the New York _Tribune_, was a great success, as it made clear what had previously been unintelligible.

Perley's Reminiscences, v. 1-2 of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis Benjamin Perley Poore 1853

No passing observer can form the least idea of the cryptogramic existence of a certain class of shopkeepers; he looks at them and asks himself, "On what, and why, do they live? whence have they come? where do they go?"

The Celibates Honor�� de Balzac 1824