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TRANSCRIPT OF A CURIOUS MANUSCRIPT WORK IN CYPHER,

SUPPOSED TO BE ASTROLOGICAL.

By PlIny Elias Chase

(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 c ,ver. 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."

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

This (shown left) diamond motif is seen throughout the ages and cultures. For our purposes, we look again to the Futhark for symbolic insight where this is known as the Ingwuz rune and is the foundational geometric symbol of creation. Indeed, ancient European tribes deemed this symbol to represent the literal image of the birth canal or vagina. So, literally, this symbol means creation of life.

This diamond symbol is also found in alchemical philosophies. Metaphysically speaking, this foundational image tells of creativity that is expressed by the culmination of the four elements: Four sides indicating earth, fire, air, and water.

In the alchemical realm, the skillful employment of all four of these elements leads the practitioner to infinite potential and Divine creativity. We see the center of this (alchemical) symbol void of design – indicating creation takes place through the path of least resistance. In other words, it is by allowing that we obtain our true creative purpose.

Lastly, I invite you to 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.