A encrypted book from the year 1798
“Das zweyte Silentium Dei” is an alechemy book from the late 18th century. It describes a “magic machine” whose purpose is not clear to me. Some passages in this work are encrypted.
Which encrypted book is kept in the Beinecke Library in Connecticut? Stupid question, many readers will now say, the Voynich manuscript, of course.
The second Silentium Dei
Thanks to a hint from Nils Kopal, I now know that there is another (at least partially) encoded book in the Beinecke Library: “Das zweyte Silentium Dei in Königs Salomonis des Weisen paradiessischen Lustgarten” by Johann Arndt from 1798. It is an alchemy book. Here are scans of the individual pages.
Of course I have added “Das zweyte Silentium Dei” (I will use this short name) to my Encrypted Book List. It has the number 00114 there.
Among other things, “Das zweyte Silentium Dei” describes an optical device (“magic machine”) whose purpose is not quite clear to me:
Quelle/Source: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
The text contains numerous short ciphertext passages. Here is an example:
Quelle/Source: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
There is also a completely encrypted page:
Quelle/Source: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
The encryption method is the same for the short and long passages.
The encrypted page
Here is a video from Nils about this book:
In this video, Nils uses a transcription by George Lasry to describe how to decrypt the encrypted page. He also goes into some cryptogafic bensoderities. At 9:00, the plaintext can be seen. It reads as follows:
No. A. B. C. zeigen die hohlgeschliffene Gläsern deren das erste in seiner Zircumferenz
M 6 oder 12 Zoll; das andere O 12 oder 14. Das Dritte Q 18 oder 16 Zoll hält, wie
dieselben in gleich weiter Distanz gestellet werden mußen auf, daß ein Focus den
andern erreichen könne bis auf das Centrum. No. D wo der Mercurius ist in. No. E,
Steigen der Spiritus Mercurii. No. F. ist eine gläserne Kugel mit frischen gemeinen
Wasser angefüllt. No. G. sey von eichenen oder andern harten Holz aufgesätz Stöcke. No.
H. ist eine Sandcapelle. No. I. ist ein Zoll dickes Brett, oder Drehstock darein die Gläser
gestellet werden. No. K. ist ein Gläserne offene Schaalen. No. L. ist der Stock worauf die
Schaale gestellet wird. No. M. ist ein Gläserner. No. N. das ist eine gläserne Capelle. No. O.
ist das Glas mit denen Blumen. No. P. ist das Glasso zu lit. b muß lutirt werden. No. Q. ist
der Stopfel. No. R. ist das runde Glas mit kleinen Löcklein, gehören zu Lit. a. No. S. Renien
seyn die grünen Augenbrillen so man in Edelgestein arbeitet.
This is about the details of the magic machine.
However, you don’t need great code-breaking skills to decode it, because the key is included in the book (page 83):
Quelle/Source: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
In addition, Nils explains in his video how you could solve the encryption with CrypTool if you didn’t have the key.
Nils also pointed me to a research paper that discusses it in detail.
The machine
Finally, I would be interested to know what the purpose of the magic machine was. Also, I wonder why the page in question was encrypted. Are the details written in this passage secret? If so, why is the key provided in the book right away? Perhaps a reader can say more about this.
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