Book Two

that they thus conversed with each other through a leaden pipe, for a long time, in secrecy.  As Porta’s book is not accessible to all, I will transcribe his words here. “Take a clay pipe,” he says, “or, better, one made of lead, or of some material such that the pipe shall be perfectly tight, so that the voice may not leak out in the course of its long passage. For, whatever words you speak at one end, are carried whole and unimpaired, and strike the ears of the person standing at the other end just as they issued from the mouth of the speaker. I have not the least doubt that this experiment may be made to succeed over a space of several miles. Without being torn asunder, without dissipating into the air, the voice is carried along unimpaired over the greatest distance. I on one occasion, when it was inconvenient to communicate in any other way, made the experiment over a space of two hundred paces, and the words were heard as clearly and distinctly as when they issued from the mouth of the speaker. Reasoning from this success, I conceived the idea of detaining by means of leaden pipes spoken words, while in course of passage, and so holding them confined as long as should be desired; with the object that, when the hole should be opened, they might leap forth; for we see that sounds require time to travel, and that, by being carried through a pipe they may be confined within a space. I further conceived that it might be possible, if a very long pipe should prove inconvenient, to include in small space a number of conduits by bending them back on one another. We read that Albertus made a clay head that talked whenever he gave command. Now I should hope to accomplish the same result by the device here described, but I have made no experiment in this line other than the one I have mentioned.” So much for the first more general Mode; we come now to the second.

            Transference is accomplished by schematismatic,(1) or figurative, discourse, and is adapted to the educated only. Figurative discourse is accomplished through rhetorical figures, which are metaphor, metonymy, antonomasia, allegory, enigma, amphiboly. These figures are employed by speakers for the purposes of embellishment, but cryptologists, having different object in view, seek to obtain therewith a certain obscurity. See Porta, Bk.I.c.5; also Schwenter, Steganol. et Steganog., Bk I.mod.8, where examples are given.

Alteration is accomplished in three ways; by Transposition, by Interpolation, or by Innovation.

Alteration by Transposition is accomplished by Simple Transposition of certain letters, or by Transposition properly called, or, finally, by Mixed Mode. Alteration by Simple Transposition is when two words are taken together and the first letters of each word are interchanged; e.g. Morgen kom zu mir für Thor: Korgen mom mu zir türs fhor. See Schwenter, Aucta Stegen., pp. 221, 222. Alteration by Transposition properly called (see, below, Bk.V.c.2) is when the first and last letters of a word are transposed into the letters which respectively follow them in the alphabet. Schwenter, Ren. Steg., pp. 60, 61, 220, lays down certain rules in this connection, since in monosyllables and in cases where two consonants come in sequence the matter is not so simple. Let the following serve as an example: Morgen kan ich kommen, for which we say Norgeo lao koi lommeo. Transposition by process of combination, or Mixed Mode, takes place when the two above-mentioned Special Modes are used in part conjointly, as is the case in that Transposition of Letters which Schwenter sets forth in his several rules, Mod. 9; here the letters are not only changed but they are interchanged as well. This device is said to be in favor among the Jews. Advancing from the Transposition of Letters, it appears under the form of the Transposition of Syllables, and is so used by the students at the universities.