]--" 1
"Now, in English, the letter which most frequently occurs is 'e'.
Afterwards the succession runs thus: a o i d h n r s t n y c f g l
m w b k p q x z. 'E' predominates, however, so remarkably that an
individual sentence of any length is rarely seen, in which it is
not the prevailing character.
"Here, then, we have, in the very beginning, the groundwork for
something more than a mere guess. The general use which may be
made of the table is obvious--but, in this particular cipher, we
shall only very partially require its aid. As our predominant
character is 8, we will commence by assuming it as the 'e' of the
natural alphabet. To verify the supposition, let us observe if the
8 be seen often in couples--for 'e' is doubled with great
frequency in English--in such words, for example, as 'meet,'
'fleet,' 'speed,' 'seen,' 'been,' 'agree' and 'see'. In the
present instance we see it doubled no less than five times,
although the cryptograph is brief.
"Let us assume 8, then, as 'e'. Now, of all WORDS in the language,
'the' is most usual; let us see, therefore, whether there are not
repetitions of any three characters, in the same order of
collocation, the last of them being 8. If we discover repetitions
of such letters, so arranged, they will most probably represent
the word 'the.' On inspection, we find no less than seven such
arrangements, the characters being: ;48. We may, therefore, assume
that the semicolon represents 't', that 4 represents 'h', and that
8 represents 'e'--the last being now well confirmed. Thus a great
step has been taken.
"But, having established a single word, we are enabled to
establish a vastly important point; that is to say, several
commencements and terminations of other words. Let us refer, for
example, to the last instance but one, in which the combination
;48 occurs--not far from the end of the cipher. We know that the
semicolon immediately ensuing is the commencement of a word, and,
of the six characters succeeding this 'the,' we are cognizant of
no less than five. Let us set these characters down, thus, by the
letters we know them to represent, leaving a space for the
unknown--
t eeth.
"Here we are enabled, at once, to discard the 'th,' as forming no
portion of the word commencing with the first 't'; since, by
experiment of the entire alphabet for a letter adapted to the
vacancy, we perceive that no word can be formed of which this 'th'
can be a part. We are thus narrowed into
t ee,
and, going through the alphabet, if necessary, as before, we
arrive at the word 'tree' as the sole possible reading. We thus
gain another letter, 'r', represented by (, with the words 'the
tree' in juxtaposition.
"Looking beyond these words, for a short distance, we again see
the combination ;4S, and employ it by way of TERMINATION to what
immediately precedes. We have thus this arrangement:
the tree ;4(*t?34** the,
or, substituting the natural letters, where known, it reads thus:
the tree thr**?3h the.
"Now, if, in place of the unknown characters, we leave blank
spaces, or substitute dots, we read thus:
the tree thr . . . h the.
when the word 'THROUGH' makes itself evident at once. But this
discovery gives us three new letters, o, u, and g, represented by
$ ? and 3.
"Looking now, narrowly, through the cipher for combinations of
known characters, we find, not very far from the beginning, this
arrangement,
83(88, or egree,
which, plainly, is the conclusion of the word 'degree,' and gives
us another letter, d, represented by t.
"Four letters beyond the word 'degree,' we perceive the
combination
;46(;88*
"Translating the known characters, and representing the unknown by
dots, as before, we read thus:
th . rtee . ,
an arrangement immediately suggestive of the word 'thirteen,' and
again furnishing us with two new characters, i and n, represented
by 6 and *.
"Referring, now, to the beginning of the cryptograph, we find the
combination,
53***.
"Translating, as before, we obtain
good,
which assures us that the first letter is A, and that the first
two words are 'A good.'
"To avoid confusion, it is now time that we arrange our key, as
far as discovered, in a tabular form. It will stand thus: (More
code-Prf)