The Cryptogram as a factor in Symbolic Philosophye

These minor differences disclose the presence of the two alphabets employed in writing the sentence. *** At this point the inquirer might reasonably expect the letters to make intelligible words; but he will very likely be disappointed, for, as in the case above, the letters thus extracted are themselves a cryptogram, doubly involved to discourage those who might have a casual acquaintance with the biliteral system. THE KEY TO THE BILITERAL CIPHER. From Bacon's De Augmentis Scientiarum. After the document to be deciphered has been reduced to its "a" and "b" equivalents, it is then broken up into five-letter groups and the message read with the aid of the above table. *** A MODERN WHEEL, OR DISC, CIPHER. The above diagram shows a wheel cipher. The smaller, or inner, alphabet moves around so that any one of its letters may be brought opposite any me of he letters on the larger, or outer, alphabet. In some, cases the inner alphabet is written backwards, but in the present example, both alphabets read the same way. *** THE BILITERAL ALPHABET. From Bacon's De Augmentis Scientiarum. This Plate is reproduced from Bacon's De Augmentis Scientiarum, and shows the two alphabets as designed by him for the purpose of his cipher. Each capital and small letter has two distinct forms which are designated "a" and "b". The biliteral system did not in every instance make use of two alphabets in which the differences were as perceptible as in the example here given, but the two alphabets were always used; sometimes variations are so minute that it requires a powerful magnifying glass to distinguish the difference between the "a" and "b" types of letters. *** The next step is to apply the nine letters to what is commonly called a wheel (or disc) cipher (q.v.), which consists of two alphabets, one revolving around the other in such a manner that numerous transpositions of letters are possible. In the accompanying cut the A of the inner alphabet is opposite the H of the outer alphabet, so that for cipher purposes these letters are interchangeable. The F and M, the P, and Y, the W and D, in fact all the letters, may be transposed as shown by the two circles. The nine letters extracted by the biliteral cipher may thus be exchanged for nine others by the wheel cipher. The nine letters are considered as being on the inner circle of the wheel and are exchanged for the nine letters on the outer circle which are opposite the inner letters. By this process the T becomes A; the two E's become two L's; the B becomes I, the L becomes S; the P becomes W; the X becomes E; and the two E's become two L's. The result is ALLISWELL, which, broken up into words, reads: "All is well." Of course, by moving the inner disc of the wheel cipher, many different combinations in addition to the one given above can be made of the letters, but this is the only one which will produce sense, and the cryptogrammatist must keep on experimenting until he discovers a logical and intelligible message. He may then feel reasonably sure that he has deciphered the system. Lord Bacon involved the biliteral cipher in many different ways. There are probably a score of different systems used in the "Shakespeare" folio alone, some so intricate that they may forever baffle all attempts at their decipherment. In those susceptible of solution, sometimes the a 's and b 's have to be exchanged; at other times the concealed message is written backwards; again only every other letter is counted; and so on. There are several other forms of the literal cipher in which letters are substituted for each other by a prearranged sequence.