246 



METHOD OF SECRET WRITING. 



Methods of fe- 

 cret writing. 



Alphabets of 

 convention. 



Sympathetic 

 ink. 



Folding the 

 paper. 



Kircher's 

 method. 



General enume- 

 ration. 



X. 



Method of Secret Writing, by means of a Steganographic Scale, 

 By]. B. Berard*. 



AN infinite variety of methods of fteganography or inde* 

 cipherable writing has been devifed; of thefe, fome are de- 

 fective in theory, and others inconvenient in practice. It is 

 not my intention to difcufs the advantages or inconveniences 

 of all thofe which are known, it would lead me too far. I 

 fliall therefore confine rnyfelf to noticing a few of the principal 

 ones. 



Alphabets of convention afford but little fecurity ; the cha- 

 racters which perform the functions of vowels and eonfonants, 

 recur in fuel) fituations, as to make their ufe very apparent ; 

 and it is afcertained, that by patience and a little fkill the fecret 

 is eafily difcovered. 



The fympathetic inks, feven in number, are not more fafe, 

 becaufe after feveral trials, that re-agent which renders the 

 writing legible, is at length difcovered. 



Thofe methods which depend on folding the paper in a par- 

 ticular manner, as was practifed by the Spartans, are inconve- 

 nient, and afford but little defence againft curiofity. 



The method of Kircher, though fufficiently certain in its 

 principle, is of little value in practice ; befides which, its per- 

 formance is both tedious and inconvenient : a point wrong 

 placed or omitted, is fufficient to render the fecret unintelligible 

 to the correfpondent. 



In the fixth number of the Journal de VEcole Poll/technique, 

 p. 3S2, is a table, in which Cit. Hafienfratz has clafTed ail 

 the modes of correfpondence, whether by writing or other- 

 wife. That which I have devifed, is as follows; it will per- 

 haps be found to poffefs the double merit of fimplicity aud 

 fecurity f. 



Take 



* Melanges Phyfico-Mathematique. 



•f This method has been made ufe of for the private correfpon- 

 dence of Cit. Forfait, minifter of the marine, and the colonies, and 

 prefident of the lyceum of arts. There is no inconvenience in 

 mentioning the facts for the advantage of a good method confifts 



