Ciphers
TRANSCRIPT OF A CURIOUS MANUSCRIPT WORK IN CYPHER,
SUPPOSED TO BE ASTROLOGICAL.
By PlIny Elias Chase, 1873
(Read before the American Philosophical Socicty, October 2d, 1873.)
The work, of which I have prepared the accompanying transcript, was bought in Amsterdam, about seventy years ago. It consists of fortyfour manuscript pages, on twenty-four triangular leaves of parchment, measuring nine inches on a side, substantially bound in a hog-skin cover. It has beeu kept in a plush-lined tin case, so that it is in a state of excellent preservation, and appears as if newly written. On the lid of the case is a figure of a dragon, together with the following inscription, greatly defaced, but still distinct enough to be perfectly legible.
"Ex Doxo S.vrtESTtsstMt Comttts St GermaIn Qut Orrem TerRaRL-M PEUCUCURRIT."
The cypher consists of twenty-six arbitrary characters. In preparing to transcribe it, I counted the number of times each character was used, substituting a for the one that occurred most frequently, h for the next in frequency, and so on. The words are often run together, but there are numerous breaks, which I have indicated, some of which appear to mark divisions between words, whilo others may be arbitrary, or intended as blinds.
TRIANGLE CYPHER
No. 20. — T*ree wr/y Stuart Ciphers, and the Key to them. The same message is written above in each of the three ciphers: There is Ho safely till by flight. (For explanation see lext, and No. «i.)
These three ciphers can be read thus: The key at the bottom of No. 20 is placed at the top of, say, the " Dot" cipher, so that the short side-lines of the key coincide with the longer side-lines which enclose the message written in dots. The key is then slowly moved down the " Dot" cipher, and, as it moves, first one and then another of the dots it contains will be pointed to by one of the twenty-six arrow-heads of the key. Thus each of these dots is seen to represent a letter of the alphabet, which is then written against the dot as the key is moved down the cipher message. When the key reaches the bottom of the "Dot" cipher in No. 20, the various letters having been inserted during the moving of the key, this cipher will look like the "solution of the 'Dot' cipher" given at the top of No. 21. We then read off the message from No. 21, beginning at the top and reading from left to right, as in the ordinary way ot reading a letter—thus, There is no safety hit by flight.
And similarly with the " Triangle" cipher in No. 20. As the key passes down the secret message it will be seen that every angle of every triangle, etc., is directly pointed to by one of the arrow-heads of the key, and, the letter of the alphabet being thereby disclosed, the solution of the " Triangle" cipher will be seen as in No. 21, and this again is read off at sight as, There is no safety but by flight.
The " Line " cipher is solved after a similar fashion ; for the ends of the lines will be found to coincide with one or other of the twenty-six arrow-heads of the key, and by inserting the disclosed letter at the end of each line as we use the key, we obtain the solution given at the bottom of No. 21, which reads, There is no safety but by flight.
I may point out, as regards the "Triangle" cipher, that, in writing a message by this mode, dots are first inserted by means of the key, as in the " Dot " cipher, and that then these dots are connected in groups of three, so as, to form a number of triangles. The dots are connected in any order that may be found to facilitate the making of the triangles ; for, as one triangle does not necessarily denote one complete word, the order in which the dots are connected is of no importance. When nearly all the dots have been connected and transformed into triangles, those dots which remain and which cannot be put into triangular form are used to compose the angles of whatever irregular geometrical figure can be drawn so as to take in all the remaining dots. See, for example, the irregular five-sided figure in the right bottom corner of the " Triangle '' cipher in No. 20.
How simple this cipher is when explained—but how devoid of meaning, as a secret message, are these dots, triangles and lines when we look at them as shown in No. 20, without knowledge of the secret which disiloses their hidden solutions.
SOLVE ET COAGULA
Lastly, consider the above shown diamond symbols (more accurately, triangle symbols), which are also alchemical in origin. These symbols are considered to be the building blocks of all matter, of everything. We see that each is comprised of the same triangular/diamond/crystal features.
TRANSCRIPT OF A CURIOUS MANUSCRIPT WORK IN CYPHER, SUPPOSED TO BE ASTROLOGICAL.
By Pliny Earle Chase.
(Read before the American PhilosopJiical Socicty, October 3d, 1873.)
The work, of which I have prepared the accompanying transcript, was bought in Amsterdam, about, seventy years ago. It consists of fortyfour manuscript pages, on twenty-four triangular leaves of parchment, measuring nine inches on a side, substantially bound in a hog-skin civer. It has been kept in a plush-lined tin case, so that it is in a state of excellent preservation, and appears as if newly written. On the lid of the case is a figure of a dragon, together with the following inscription, greatly defaced, but still distinct enough to be perfectly legible.
"Ex Dono Sapientissimi Comitis St Germain Qui Orrem Ter
RaRUM Percucurrit."
The cypher consists of twenty-six arbitrary characters. In preparing
to transcribe it, I counted the number of times each character was used,
substituting a for the one that occurred most frequently, b for the next in
frequency, and so on. The words are often run together, but there are
numerous breaks, which I have indicated, some of which appear to mark
divisions between words, while others may be arbitrary, or intended as
blinds.
• In consequence of the law of equal areas.
TRANSCRIPT OF A CURIOUS MANUSCRIPT WORK IN CYPHER, SUPPOSED TO BE ASTROLOGICAL.
By Pliny Earle Chase.
(Read before the American PhilosopJiical Socicty, October 3d, 1873.)
The work, of which I have prepared the accompanying transcript, was bought in Amsterdam, about, seventy years ago. It consists of fortyfour manuscript pages, on twenty-four triangular leaves of parchment, measuring nine inches on a side, substantially bound in a hog-skin civer. It has been kept in a plush-lined tin case, so that it is in a state of excellent preservation, and appears as if newly written. On the lid of the case is a figure of a dragon, together with the following inscription, greatly defaced, but still distinct enough to be perfectly legible.
"Ex Dono Sapientissimi Comitis St Germain Qui Orrem Ter
RaRUM Percucurrit."
The cypher consists of twenty-six arbitrary characters. In preparing
to transcribe it, I counted the number of times each character was used,
substituting a for the one that occurred most frequently, b for the next in
frequency, and so on. The words are often run together, but there are
numerous breaks, which I have indicated, some of which appear to mark
divisions between words, while others may be arbitrary, or intended as
blinds.
• In consequence of the law of equal areas.
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[email protected]
FAIR USE NOTICE
This site may contains some copyrighted material which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding and knowledge through educational issues. This constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
The owners and publishers of these pages wish to state that the material presented here that is the product of our research is offered with the caveat that the reader ought always to research on their own. We invite the reader to share in our Seeking of Truth by reading with an Open, but skeptical mind. We constantly seek to validate and/or refine what we understand to be either possible or probable or both. We do this in the sincere hope that all of mankind will benefit, if not now, then at some point in one of our probable futures. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner