Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1881-02-25

EOur Hcurs OF Study ma Expcrfs
ment, Comes TO tho Front ana
Adds Another wonder 10 this
wonderful Agc-U Beil,s Phonetic
Cipher and CabaiIsttc Lexicon, N
system of fshort-Irand, Secret Come
munication.
"Bell's Phonetic Cipher and Cabalistic
Lexicon is the title OF very handsomely
bound book, presented to us yesterday, and
l, is certainly rare novelty, unique and
valuable. 1t is, as the title indicates,
system of shorthand, secret comniunica-
tion, and the most complete thing of the
kind imaginable. II embraces all that can
be expressed in the English language; can
be written, telegraphed and telephoned
with equal facility, and can be used by any
one possessing common English educa-
tion. Mr.. Bell begins with vocabulary
English words and by an ingenius arrange
ment, repr esents each word by, not to ex
ceed, three letters. Following this vocab-
ulary are tables showing the variations Of
the twenty-six letters Of the alphabet the
tables are divided into columns, of fiftytwo
letters each, which are called" keys to the
vocabulary" by the use of these keys, each
word in the vocabulary may be expressed
in seventeen thousand fre hundred and serenity
sir different ways, never using, to exceed
three letters, and, by the use of another
tah al, I,,ta la Dr. t,o
iion," the variation may be carried up to
1T5, ,760,0 900, SO that we think Mr.. Bells
claims are pretty well founded when he
says that Every man, woman and child
in the United States might use his method
and yet each be in possession of simple
practical cipher, utterly unintelligible to
any other without personal understanding"
A AlargeIportion.of the remainder of,the: work
is made up OF thousands oi:. short phrases or
sentences, varying in length from three TO
thirty words, so arranged that, by the ad-
dition of a single word, the sense is entire
ly changed, and thus each sentence is
adapted to many different subjects; these
phrases or sentences, are each represented
BY short word mot exceeding seven let
ters); these words are arranged i'm columns
of thirty eight each, and by the Use of the
table OF interchangeable figures, they are
made interchangea ms many times as the
variations of hrty.eight-a NUM- Der that can
be expressed only by infnity;; thus any
word will represent any sentei ce, and Uice
rersa; the result is the ne plus rltra of short
hand writing and telegraphing, and the
perfection Of secrecy.
Aside from secrecy and brevity, this
method OF communication possesses anoth-
er qualification, which alone is sufficient
Recommendation, namely, economy; the
contents of four pages OF note paper, writ
ten in the ordinary way, may be clearly
expressed upon postal card, and the post
man will not read such communication, nor
could the keenest expert discover any method
of Interpretation, save, and only by having
personal understanding with the writer.
Mr.. Bell illustrates this fact forcbly in his
General Key" by examples of message
written in several keys, and then, by change
OF single figure, an entirely new matter j,
introduced, for instance, in the general key
the three words, Carter" MILDLY
"Captor," are translated, DO not appea,
anxious, let IL be inferred that you haze al
ready secured your main object. Telegraph
! phether or not money routd be an o6j'ct ano
hew much Does there appear to be muci
opposionf" BY slight change of key the
same words indicate, wa meet you a
7:30 p. M. on Sunday" 1t will be observed
that one translation contains thirty-fve
words and the other but ten, and yet eacl
makes complete sense now, if there were
but those two readings (instead of perhaps
two thousand) who could demonstrate ,rh,ci
was intended, without an eract knowledge
of the key used?
A telegraph message of one hundred
words, ordinarily, may be reduced to ten oil
less, and, in addition to saving OF Ninets
Per Cent, the same degree OF secrecy exists
in the telegraphic as in the postal message
What Bonanza for political campaigns
AS medium for personal advertisements
it is beyond comparison A good sized
letter may be inserted in a newspaper at the
cost Of and appearing as a fre-iine personal
intellegible only to the party addressed
Where secrecy is not desired, the "Genera
Key" is to be used; the economy is thu
same, and any one possessing a book cal
readily translate such messages.