Book Two

Chapter II.
Which touches on Cryptography proper and treats of its
Fundamental Principles.

That sort of concealment that has to do with speech has been treated in the preceding chapter, and it received there our principal attention.  We now come to that sort of concealment that has to do with writing. In.@ Bk.I.c.2, above I spoke of the Internal End, describing it as the concealment of the secret,—concealment made especially through the instrumentality of hidden writing, or, in other words, of the written letter. Let us, then, see what hidden writing is, and what its field.  For so shall we gradually come to an understanding of the Mediums, or various Modes, of writing.

            Hidden writing, then, is that process by which, by means of letters, we hiddenly, or without the knowledge of any third person, put before the eyes of a friend, who has understanding of this institution, vocables, words, and, in fine, an epistle.  This definition which I have borrowed for use here from Johannes Goropius Becanus, Hierogl., Bk.III., requires a brief explanation.  The Object is the vocables, words and epistle, the Formal Object.  The Instrumental Cause is the letters, or scriptural elements.  The Proximate Cause is Position.  All things else signify the End of writing;  see above, Bk.i.c.2, ad fin.  And from these fountain-heads all the Mediums of secret-making are deduced, and there can be found nothing appertaining to this art and to this part of the art that can not and should not be referred to these, as will appear from what follows.

Having disposed of the definition, we come now to the Division, or, rather, Distinction, which I give on a triple basis. First, hidden writing is divided into hidden writing properly called and hidden writing improperly called, or Significative. The ground of this division lies in the Proximate Cause. For the statement made in the definition to the effect that writing ‘is the act of putting before the eyes by means of letters’, may be understood in two ways: it may be understood literally, as when, either ourselves or through others acting for us, we form and write letters, or it may be understood of that which is improperly called, or call significatively, as when we put before the eyes not the scriptural elements, or letters, but another thing, which is neither written nor painted, but which in its own way may symbolize letters; as is the case with Real signs. The threefold division of our whole subject is this:  concealment takes place by the voice of by writing or by signs, and the signs may be either symbolizing the voice or signs symbolizing writing. Of signs representing the voice, I have already spoken above. Of signs representing writing I will speak later on. Secondly, hidden writing is either itself secret, or is held to be such either by reason of the envelope in which it is enclosed or by reason of the secrecy of its Dispatch. The ground of this division lies in the End proper or in the substitute for the End. The End proper is that the writing itself be hidden. If the writing itself be not hidden, the substitute for the End is that at least the Transmission of the writing be hidden. Thirdly, writing which is in itself hidden is such by reason of the letters, or by reason of the sense, or by reason of the language. The ground of this division cannot but be clear, for since writing takes place through letters, concealment may, first, lie in these; or if it lie not in these, then in the sense; or, if it lie neither in the letters nor in the sense, such concealment may come about from the adoption and use of a foreign language. From these divisions we may now easily derive and deduce the Modes of secret-making, with the result that we have Modes Universal, Modes General, and Modes Special.  Universal Modes are, besides speech, hidden writing through letters, and quasi-writing, or the symbolization of letters by signs. I call these Modes Universal because they embrace the art in all its branches. General Modes are secret writing, the envelopment of the epistle, and secret Dispatch. I call these Modes General because, while they do not deal with the whole art, they yet have to do with the largest part of it. Finally Special Modes are: (1) writing by hidden position of letters; (2) writing by hidden sense; (3) writing by foreign language.