During the Middle Ages scores of writers–members of secret political or religious organizations–published books containing ciphers. Secret writing became a fad; every European court had its own diplomatic cipher, and the intelligentsia vied with one another in devising curious and complicated cryptograms. The literature of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries is permeated with ciphers, few of which have ever been decoded. Many of the magnificent scientific and philosophic intellects of this period dared not publish their findings, because of the religious intolerance of their day. In order to preserve the fruitage of their intellectual labors for mankind, these pioneers of progress concealed their discoveries in ciphers, trusting that future generations, more kindly than their own, would discover and appreciate their learning.

Many churchmen, it is interesting to note, used cryptograms, fearing excommunication or a worse fate should their scientific researches be suspected. Only recently an intricate cipher of Roger Bacon’s has been unraveled, revealing the fact that this early scientist was well versed in the cellular theory. Lecturing before the American Philosophical Society, Dr. William Romaine Newbold,

A FAMOUS CRYPTIC TITLE PAGE.

From Selenus’ Cryptomenytices et Cryptographiæ. One year after the publication of the first Great “Shakespearian” Folio, a remarkable volume on cryptogram, and ciphers was published. The title page of the work is reproduced above. The year of its publication (1624) was during the Rosicrucian controversy. The translation of the title page is as follows:

“The Cryptomenysis and Cryptography of Gustavus Selenus in nine books, to which is added a clear explanation of the System of Steganography of John Trithemius, Abbot of Spanheim and Herbipolis, a man of admirable genius. Interspersed with worthy inventions of the Author and others, 1624.” The author of this volume was believed to be Augustus, Duke of Brunswick. The symbols and emblems ornamenting the title page, however, are conclusive evidence that the fine hand of the Rosicrucians was behind its publication. At the bottom of the picture is a nobleman (Bacon?) placing his hat on another man’s head. In the oval at the top of the plate, it is possible that the lights are beacons, or a play upon the name Bacon. In the two side panels are striking and subtle “Shakespearian” allusions. On the left is a nobleman (possibly Bacon) handing a paper to another man of mean appearance who carries in his hand a spear. At the right, the man who previously carried the spear is shown in the costume of an actor, wearing spurs and blowing a horn. The allusion to the actor blowing his horn and the figure carrying the spear suggest much, especially as spear is the last syllable of the name “Shakespeare.”

p. 170

who translated the cipher manuscript of the friar, declared: “There are drawings which so accurately portray the actual appearance of certain objects that it is difficult to resist the inference that Bacon had seen them with the microscope. * * * These are spermatozoa, the body cells and the seminiferous tubes, the ova, with their nuclei distinctly indicated. There are nine large drawings, of which one at least bears considerable resemblance to a certain stage of development of a fertilized cell.” (See Review of Reviews, July, 1921.) Had Roger Bacon failed to conceal this discovery under a complicated cipher, he would have been persecuted as a heretic and would probably have met the fate of other early liberal thinkers. In spite of the rapid progress made by science in the last two hundred and fifty years, it still remains ignorant concerning many of the original discoveries made by mediæval investigators. The only record of these important findings is that contained in the cryptograms of the volumes which they published. While many authors have written on the subject of cryptography, the books most valuable to students of philosophy and religion are: Polygraphia and Steganographia, by Trithemius, Abbot of Spanheim; Mercury, or The Secret and Swift Messenger, by John Wilkins, Bishop of Chester; Œdipus Ægyptiacus and other works by Athanasius Kircher, Society of Jesus; and Cryptomenytices et Cryptographiæ, by Gustavus Selenus.

To illustrate the basic differences in their construction and use, the various forms of ciphers are here grouped under seven general headings:

Pin It on Pinterest