34 report — 1859. 



On Sir Christopher Wren's Cipher, containing Three Methods of finding the 

 Longitude. By Sir David Brewster, K.H., LL.J)., F.R.S. 



Sir David said that at page 263, vol. ii. of his ' Life of Sir Isaac Newton,' the 

 following paragraphs would be found : — " The bill which had been enacted for reward- 

 ing the discover)' of the longitude seems to have stimulated the inventive powers of 

 Sir Christopher Wren, then in his eighty-third year. He communicated the results of 

 his study to the Royal Society, as indicated by the following curious document 

 which I found among the manuscripts of Newton : — 



" ' Sir Christopher Wren's cipher, describing three instruments proper for discover- 

 ing the longitude at sea, delivered to the Society November 30, 1714, by Mr. Wren : — 



OZVCVAYINIXDNCVOCWEDCNMALNABECIRTEWNGRAMHHCCAW. 

 ZEIYEINOIEBIVTXESCIOCPSDEDMNANHSEFPRPIWHDRAEHHXCIF. 

 EZKAVEBIMOXRFCSLCEEDHWMGNNIVEOMREWWERRCSHEPCIP. 



Vera copia. Edm. Halley.' 



We presume that each of these paragraphs of letters is the description of a separate 

 instrument. If it be true that every cipher can be deciphered, these mysterious 

 paragraphs, which their author did not live to expound, may disclose something 

 interesting to science." 



Sir David Brewster went on to say that soon after the publication of ' The Life of 

 Sir Isaac Newton,' he had received a letter from Mr. Francis Williams, of Grange 

 Court, Chigwell, suggesting very modestly that as the deciphering of the cipher, as 

 published, was so simple, he supposed many persons had already done so ; but if not, 

 he begged to say that the mystery could be solved by reading the letters backwards 

 in each of the three paragraphs, omitting every third letter. He had, on the approach 

 of the Meeting of the British Association, received permission from Mr. Williams to 

 give an account to this Section of Mr. Williams's method of solving the enigma. 

 In his letter conveying the permission, which Sir David read, he suggests that " Sir 

 Christopher Wren's object was to make it too mysterious to be of use to any one 

 else. It is possible he may have wished to delay for a time the publication of his 

 inventions, perhaps till he had improved his instruments, but was afraid that in the 

 interval another would hit upon and publish the same discovery. He would send 

 this cipher, then, to the Royal Society as a proof to be used at any future time." 

 Sir David had the following explanation then, in accordance with Mr. Williams's 

 suggestion, written upon the black board, the letters to be omitted being written 

 in small characters to distinguish them, and backwards : — 



WAcCHhMArGNwETrlCeBAnLAmNCdEWcOUcNDxINiVAvCUzO.— Wach 

 magnetic balance wound in vacuo (one letter a misprint). The omitted letters 

 similarly read are— CHR. WREN, MDCCXIV. 



FIcXHhEArDHwIPrPEeSHnANmDEdSPcOIcSExTUiBEiONiEYiEZ.— Fix 

 head hippes handes poise tube on eye (one letter a misprint). Omitted letters make — 

 CHR. WREN, MDCCXIIII. 



PIcPEhSCrREwWErMOeVInNGmWHdEEcLScFRxOMiB EvA KzE.— Pipe 

 screwe moving wheels from beake. Omitted letters make — CHR. WREN, 



MDCCXIV. 



The three last omitted z's occurring in the first part of each cipher to show that 

 that part must be taken last. 



On the Longitude. By Sir C. Grey. 



On the Inclination of the Planetary Orbits. 

 By J. Pope Hennessy, M.P., F.G.S. 



The author stated that, on consulting a synoptic table of the planetary elements, 

 some laws had been obtained for the other elements, but none hitherto for the in- 

 clinations of the several orbits. This he conceived arose from the inclinations being 

 set down in reference to the plane of the earth's orbit ; for he found that a very re- 

 markable relation manifested itself when they were tabulated in reference to the 

 plane of the Sun's equator. The author had written on the board two tables : one, 



