CYP 



CYP 



of the Decandria Monogynia class and or- 

 der. Natural order of Leguminosx. Es- 

 sential character : calyx four-leaved ; 

 anthers bifid at the tip ; legume fleshy, 

 crescent shaped; one-seeded. There 

 are two species, viz. C. cauliflora, and 

 C. ramiflora. These trees are natives of 

 the East Indies. Their flowers are con- 

 jugate ; and their peduncles are many 

 flowered 



CYNOMORIUM, in botany, a genus 

 of the Monoecia Monandria class and or- 

 der. Natural order of Amentaceae. Es- 

 sential character: male calyx an imbri- 

 cate ament ; corolla none ; female calyx 

 in the same ament ; corolla none ; style 

 one, seed one, roundish. There are 

 three species. 



CYNOSURUS, in botany, dog's tail, a 

 genus of the Triandria Digynia class and 

 order. Natural order of Gramina, or 

 Grasses, Essential character : calyx two- 

 valved, many flowered; receptacle pro- 

 per, unilateral, leafy, there are twenty 

 species. Several of them are natives of 

 the East and West Indies. Few of these 

 are known in Europe, otherwise than by 

 specimens or description. 



CYPERUS, in botany, a genus of the 

 Triandria Monogynia class and order. 

 Natural order of Calamariae. Cyperoi- 

 deze, Jussieu. Essential character: glumes 

 chaffy, imbricate in two rows ; corolla 

 none ; seed one, naked. There are fifty- 

 three species. Most of these plants have 

 three cornered culms or stems. The 

 flowers in aggregate peduncled and um- 

 belled spikes The lower chaffs are 

 frequently empty. The greater part of 

 them are natives of the East or West 

 Indies, and will therefore, if propagated 

 here, require the protection of the bark- 

 stove . 



CYPHER, or CIPHER. To write in 

 cypher denotes the art of communicat 

 ing by writing in such a manner, as shall 

 be legible only to those who are acquaint- 

 ed with the rules by which the charac- 

 ters made use of are formed or disposed. 

 It is principally used in diplomatic cor- 

 respondence, or on other national affairs, 

 such as those relating to the operations 

 of war. As the nature of alphabetic writ- 

 ing, and the structure of languages, ne- 

 cessarily imply certain indispensable ha- 

 bitudes of the letters and words, it often 

 happens that the laws or conditions made 

 use of for the sake of secrecy can be de- 

 tected by skilful persons, and the secret 

 by that 'means discovered. The art of 

 discovering the sense of writings of the 

 description here mentioned is called de- 

 cyphering. 



VOL. IV 



One of the most obvious methods of 

 disguising the alphabet will consist in 

 changing the characters. Thus, for ex- 

 ample, if the English language were writ- 

 ten in Greek characters, it would not be 

 legible by a person unacquainted with 

 them ; or if the English alphabet were to 

 be transposed, as by taking every conse- 

 quent letter for its antecedent, namely , b 

 for a, c for 6, d for c, &c. ; or by any other 

 rule of arrangement, thesame consequence 

 would follow, and the writing would be 

 secret, unless the sagacity of the reader 

 should enable him to develope the condi- 

 tions ; which in the cases here mentioned 

 it would not be difficult to do. 



From the comparative facility of decy- 

 phering writings made in a disguised sin- 

 gle alphabet, it became necessary to use 

 contrivances of less simplicity. By sub- 

 stituting figures in the place of letters, and 

 by using more than one figure to denote 

 each letter ; and, in addition to this, by 

 adopting a considerable number of dis- 

 tinct characters, letters, or combinations 

 of figures, for each letter of the alpha- 

 bet, the difficulty of decyphering may be 

 prodigiously augmented. Thus, for ex- 

 ample, if a table were made consisting of 

 twenty-four vertical columns, having a 

 letter of the alphabet at the head of each ; 

 and six distinct ranges of characters were 

 placed on horizontal lines beneath ; and, 

 in particular, if a greater number of cha- 

 racters were allowed for the vowels, in 

 proportion to their frequency of recur- 

 rence ; and if, in writing, each range be 

 used in succession ; the developement of 

 a communication thus made would be ex- 

 tremely difficult. Or, otherwise, if a 

 square of twenty-five compartments be 

 made resembling the multiplication table, 

 but containing the letters of the alphabet, 

 and the first five digits be placed over 

 the top row and down the side, each letter 

 may be denoted by the two figures which 

 stand opposite the same, namely, at the 

 top and the side, as in the table beneath. 



12345 



In this manner, the letter a will be dp- 

 noted by 11, and the letter b by 12,. the 

 letter n by 34, and the letter w by 5'^ 



R 



