In the ordinary cryptograph, as will be seen in reference to most of those we have specified above, the artificial alphabet agreed upon by the correspondents, is employed, letter for letter, in place of the usual or natural one. For example:—two parties wish to communicate secretly. It is arranged before parting that
) shall stand for a ( ————— ” b — ————— ” c * ————— ” d . ————— ” e ’ ————— ” f ; ————— ” g : ————— ” h ? ————— ” i or j ! ————— ” k & ————— ” l 0 ————— ” m ‘ ————— ” n † ————— ” o ‡ ————— ” p ¶ ————— ” q #[TN1] ————— ” r ] ————— ” s [ ————— ” t £ ————— ” u or v $ ————— ” w ¿ ————— ” x ¡ ————— ” y %[TN2] ————— ” z
[TN1] Transcriber’s note: In the original publication of the magazine, the character used was a small right pointing hand, which is visible in the illustration of the crytograph below. Although a modern html version of this character exists, it will not display in many modern devices, depending on the capabilities of the device itself and the fonts available for use in the device. It has therefore been replaced in this list with #.
[TN2] Transcriber’s note: In the original publication of the magazine, the character used was a small left pointing hand. No suitable html character was found and even if available, the limitations of some modern devices and fonts prevents its use in this ebook. It has therefore been replaced in this list with %.
Now the following note is to be communicated—
“We must see you immediately upon a matter of great importance. Plots have been discovered, and the conspirators are in our hands. Hasten!”
[Illustration: original page image of cryptograph for the transcription below]
$.0£][]..¡†£¿00.*¿)].&¡£‡†‘)0)[[.# †’;#.)[?0‡†#[)‘—.‡&†[]:)£.(..‘*. ]—†£.#.*)‘*—†‘]‡?#)[†#])#? ?‘†£#:)‘*]:)][.‘
[Transcriber’s Note: In a deviation from the original printed book, for this text version of the ebook, the character # has been used to represent letter r in this crytogram, as indicated in the above list.]
This certainly has an intricate appearance, and would prove a most difficult cipher to any one not conversant with cryptography. But it will be observed that _a_, for example, is never represented by any other character than ), _b_ never by any other character than (, and so on. Thus by the discovery, accidental or otherwise, of any one letter, the party intercepting the epistle would gain a permanent and decided advantage; and could apply his knowledge to all the instances in which the character in question was employed throughout the cipher.