The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1867-05-03
or The character s there are 33.

1? i" g,
"Now, in English the letter which
most frequently occurs is G. Afterwards
the succession runs thus: q o d h n T.
s I y e f q M 10 b L p q Z :. Epre-
dominates so remarkably that an indi-
vidual sentence of any length is rarely
seen, in which it is not the prevailing
character.
"IIcre, then, we have, in the very
beginning, the groundwork for more
than mere guess. The general use
which may be made of the table is OBJ
vious-but, in this particular cipher,
we shall very partially require its aid.
AS our predominant character is s, we
will commence by assuming it as the e
of the natural alphabet. To verify the
supposition, let us observe if the be
seen often in couplcs-for G is doubled
with great frequency in English-in
such words, for example, as meet
fleet Speed 'seen,' 'been,' agree
etc. In the present instance we see it
doubled no less than eight times, although
the cryptOgraph is brief.
''Let us assume s, then, as G. Now,
of all words in the language, the is
most usual; let us see, therefore,
whether there are not repetitions of any
three characters, in the same order of
collOCation, the last of them being s. If
we discover repetitions of such letters,
so arranged, they will most probably
represent the word the Upon inspec-
ton we find no less than seven such ar
rangements, the characters being rs.
We may, therefore, assume that rep
resents I, i represents h, and 8 repre-
sents e-the last being now well con-
firmed. Thus Il great step has been ta-
ken.
"But, having established a single
word, we are enabled to establish II
vastly important point that is to say,
several COmmencements and termina-
tionS of other words. Let us refer, for
example, to the last instance but one,
in which the combination rs occurs
not far from the end of the cipher. We
know that tho Immediately ensuing
| is the commencement of word, and ,
of the six characters succeeding this
the we are cognizant of no less than
| five. Let us set these characters down,
thus, by the letters we know them to
represent, leaving n space for the un-
! known
eeth.
"Here we are enabled, at once, to dis
card the 'H,' as forming no portion of
the word commencing with the first { ;
since, by experiment of the entire al
phabet for "A letter adapted to the vacan-
cy, we perceive that no word can be
formed of which this tn can be a part.
We are thus narrowed into
t ee,
and, going through the alphabet, if nee
essary, as before, we arrive at the word
tree as the sole possible reading. We
thus gain another letter, =, represented
by {, with the words 'the tree in juXta
position.
"Loolling beyond these words, for {
short distance, we again see the combi
nation ;4s, and employ it by way OF
termination to what Immediately pre-
cedes. We have thus this arrangement
the tree ;l)t?3l the,
or, substituting the natural letters
} where known, it reads thus:
the tree thrt?3h the.
"Now, if in place of the unknow
characters, we leave blank spaces, o
f substitute dots, we read thus:
the tree thr...h the,
when the word HrOuGh' makes itsel
evident mt once. But this discover
| gives Us three new letters, o, and (
= represented by ! ? and 8.
"LoOking now, narrowly through I'll
cipher for combinations of known cha
actcrs, we find, not very far from I'll
, beginning this arrangement,
Q S3(SS, or egree,
which, plainly, is the conclusion of I'll
word degree and gives us another lie
er, d, represented by t.
: "Four letters beyond the word 'dC
>. gree we perceive the combination
, ;IS(;SS.
= "Translating the known character
G and representing the unknown by dot
d rs before, we read thus
tn rtce,
= an arrangement Immediately suggc
It tive of the word thirteen and agui
= furnishing us with two new character
t. and n, represented by and y.
e "Rcterring, now, to the beginning c
y the cryptograph, we find the combin;
" tion,
y 53tt+.
d "Translating as before, we obtain
l. good,
l. which assures us that the first letter
" 4, and that the first two words are ;
y good -.-..........,
4, lcoNcLupED NEXT WEEK.