diff --git a/src/ffi.rs b/src/ffi.rs
index 0bdae5b6e0a7911972e1a50ffe40688f3e3638bb..46466d39afac8e479dff249735b6cfeb361eb639 100755
--- a/src/ffi.rs
+++ b/src/ffi.rs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #![allow(dead_code)]
 use libc::{c_void, c_int, c_char, c_ulong, c_long, c_uint, c_uchar, size_t};
 use std::ptr;
+use sync::one::{Once, ONCE_INIT};
 
 pub use bn::BIGNUM;
 
@@ -181,6 +182,17 @@ extern {}
 #[link(name="wsock32")]
 extern { }
 
+pub fn init() {
+    static mut INIT: Once = ONCE_INIT;
+
+    unsafe {
+        INIT.doit(|| {
+            SSL_library_init();
+            SSL_load_error_strings()
+        })
+    }
+}
+
 // Functions converted from macros
 pub unsafe fn BIO_eof(b: *mut BIO) -> bool {
     BIO_ctrl(b, BIO_CTRL_EOF, 0, ptr::null_mut()) == 1
diff --git a/src/ssl/error.rs b/src/ssl/error.rs
index 56105253d2fbb51c5f2c80c338336a311b71f3b5..5af6c866b5f73f314ecac70295ccab92e3fe4bd3 100644
--- a/src/ssl/error.rs
+++ b/src/ssl/error.rs
@@ -41,19 +41,6 @@ fn get_reason(err: c_ulong) -> String {
     unsafe { CString::new(ffi::ERR_reason_error_string(err), false).to_string() }
 }
 
-#[test]
-#[ignore] // FIXME #65
-fn test_uknown_error_should_have_correct_messages() {
-    let err = 336032784;
-    let library = get_lib(err);
-    let function = get_func(err);
-    let reason = get_reason(err);
-
-    assert_eq!(library.as_slice(),"SSL routines");
-    assert_eq!(function.as_slice(), "SSL23_GET_SERVER_HELLO");
-    assert_eq!(reason.as_slice(), "sslv3 alert handshake failure");
-}
-
 impl SslError {
     /// Creates a new `OpenSslErrors` with the current contents of the error
     /// stack.
@@ -62,13 +49,37 @@ impl SslError {
         loop {
             match unsafe { ffi::ERR_get_error() } {
                 0 => break,
-                err => errs.push(UnknownError {
-                    library: get_lib(err),
-                    function: get_func(err),
-                    reason: get_reason(err)
-                })
+                err => errs.push(SslError::from_error_code(err))
             }
         }
         OpenSslErrors(errs)
     }
+
+    /// Creates an `SslError` from the raw numeric error code.
+    pub fn from_error(err: c_ulong) -> SslError {
+        OpenSslErrors(vec![SslError::from_error_code(err)])
+    }
+
+    fn from_error_code(err: c_ulong) -> OpensslError {
+        ffi::init();
+        UnknownError {
+            library: get_lib(err),
+            function: get_func(err),
+            reason: get_reason(err)
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn test_uknown_error_should_have_correct_messages() {
+    let errs = match SslError::from_error(336032784) {
+        OpenSslErrors(errs) => errs,
+        _ => fail!("This should always be an `OpenSslErrors` variant.")
+    };
+
+    let UnknownError { ref library, ref function, ref reason } = errs[0];
+
+    assert_eq!(library.as_slice(),"SSL routines");
+    assert_eq!(function.as_slice(), "SSL23_GET_SERVER_HELLO");
+    assert_eq!(reason.as_slice(), "sslv3 alert handshake failure");
 }
diff --git a/src/ssl/mod.rs b/src/ssl/mod.rs
index 31307a032a77bb40e2c624259bf91e701e52cb91..33112f7af6a0dfe7672faaaa6dd98222142038d5 100644
--- a/src/ssl/mod.rs
+++ b/src/ssl/mod.rs
@@ -23,9 +23,8 @@ fn init() {
 
     unsafe {
         INIT.doit(|| {
-            ffi::SSL_library_init();
-            ffi::SSL_load_error_strings();
-            ffi::ERR_load_crypto_strings();
+            ffi::init();
+
             let verify_idx = ffi::SSL_CTX_get_ex_new_index(0, ptr::null(), None,
                                                            None, None);
             assert!(verify_idx >= 0);