Apologia Poetica, Chapter 55, JC's decoding efforts.

[John Collins]

I have published some of my thinking on the subject of deciphering the code in chapter 55 of Bessler's Apologia Poetica. You can find it at www.orffyreus.net

Don't get excited - I haven't managed to decipher anything but I think I have made some progress towards that goal and if what I've posted helps someone to finish or at least advance from what I've started, then I shall be very pleased.

This does assume that there is a message and it is worth reading. In my opinion there is more than enough evidence to support my contention that there is a message and I'm equally certain that it will contain vital information on reconstructing Bessler's wheel. I can't for the life of me imagine any reason for taking so much trouble to provide clues and hints about a secret message unless he had something of importance to say. What could be more important than the secret of his wheel?

So go for it, and if you can advance from where I got stuck, good for you, I hope whoever succeeds shares what they discover - I think it is more important than the aims and ambitions of any one of us.

JC

[rasselas]

John,

“B:Weisth.7� -- 1: I myself also am a mortal man, like [un]to all, and the offspring of him that was first made of the earth

further,
-- 24: For wisdom is more moving than any motion: she passeth and goeth through all things by reason of her pureness.

Alternatively:
“Proverbs.7� -- "My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee."

~Rass (... let him ask who is without understanding)

uggc://ra.jvxvcrqvn.bet/jvxv/Obbx_bs_Jvfqbz

[Stewart]

Hi John

I haven't read all your pages in detail yet, so I'll probably have more comments later, but for now...

"B:Weißh." is an abbreviation of "Buch der Weisheit" (Book of Wisdom) also known as "Die Weisheit Salomonis" (The Wisdom of Solomon). It's in Fraktur font because those words are German.

You might find this website useful for German Luther Bible book names:
http://enominepatris.com/biblia/biblia2/index.htm
(For example "Hiob" in German refers to "Job")

The versicle symbol ℣ is quite commonly used and not something unusual to Bessler as I've said before.

All the best
Stewart

[John Collins]

Thank Rasselas and Stewart. I'm aware of the quotations and the Book of wisdom, and the meaning of the 'v', but I'm grateful for the reminders.

I believe I dismissed the idea of the 'v' having some additional meaning on the website. My point is that the font changed unnecessarily in my opinion in the case of the 'v'.

Thank you Stewart for explaining the reason for printing "B:Weißh." in Fraktur font, I agree that that seems a likely explanation, but how then do you explain the use of the Fraktur font used immediately below in the next bible reference? That should be in Latin font to match the others.

Regarding "B:Weißh." I realise that my explanation about 'alludes to' is iffy to say the least but I was seeking some alternative (any alternative) that might be an example of Bessler's frequent use of double meanings/encodings.

Thanks again guys.

JC

[Stewart]

...how then do you explain the use of the Fraktur font used immediately below in the next bible reference? That should be in Latin font to match the others.

It could just be a typesetting error. The bible reference is long and meets the Fraktur typeset text of the main passage, it contains an umlaut (suggesting that it's the German word "Römern" taken again from the German Luther Bible book title "Epistel Sanct Paulus zu den Römern"), and it follows a previous reference in Fraktur - all of this might have just distracted the typesetter from his normal typesetting of the references in a Roman typeface. "Röm" (with umlaut) appears elsewhere but is not in Fraktur, so I do agree this is an inconsistency, but it could be nothing more than an accident.

Also some of the references shown do not exist in reality – for instance the verse numbers referred to in the text sometimes exceed those that actually appear in any of the bibles I looked at. This I believe was a deliberate ploy to indicate that the bible text itself, was not intended to be used.

Can you list those you think don't exist? I'm sure I found them all when I researched them a few years ago.

Stewart

[FunWithGravity2]

John said

"limited as it is, I have reproduced copies of the relevant pages from chapter 55 of Apologia Poetica and numbered all of the lines including the four blank ones. I have drawn red arrows "

and then

"I would urge all who wish to reproduce these images for ongoing discussion and publication to acknowledge the copyright holder and my own research efforts in this matter."

LOL, Great arrows John.

[MrTim]

Knowing which bibles Bessler had in his possession would be a big help. Von Canstein's? The one printed in Kassel? Quite a few available at the time. ;)

http://altebibeln.de/bis%201719.html

Haven't had any luck finding digital scans of any of these, though....

[John Collins]

Point taken Crazy Dave :-)

[John Collins]

John wrote:
Also some of the references shown do not exist in reality – for instance the verse numbers referred to in the text sometimes exceed those that actually appear in any of the bibles I looked at. This I believe was a deliberate ploy to indicate that the bible text itself, was not intended to be used.

Can you list those you think don't exist? I'm sure I found them all when I researched them a few years ago.

I could be wrong about that, Stewart, it has been a long time since I searched for those references and at the time I remember thinking that there were some verse numbers referenced which went higher than the ones I could actually find. Bill will recall we were in a separate group in those early days trying to find a way to brainstorm a solution and one of our group spent many many hours painstakingly copying the text of every reference. Some of them did not appear to exist. If they are all there then please accept my apologies and I will amend the text of the web site accordingly .

JC

[John Collins]

Knowing which bibles Bessler had in his possession would be a big help. Von Canstein's? The one printed in Kassel? Quite a few available at the time. ;)

I don't think knowing which particular Bible Bessler used matters, Mr Tim. I'm arguing that the solution may lie in the text of the actual references themselves and not the text that they point to.

JC

[path_finder]

If you look at the plate located at the top of the Karslhafen house of Bessler, you can observe a geared inner rim.
See here: http://www.besslerwheel.com/forum/viewt ... 9749#67375
This is really strange when you remember nobody (apart the Count Karl) saw inside the wheel.
So far why the craftman engraved this feature in his work?
May be at the time he did it (obviously after the death of Bessler because the date engraved at the lowest right corner), has the content of the wheel been revealed?
If this mechanical feature has been really included in some of the Bessler's wheel, how was implemented the additional mechanism?
A beginning of answer can be found in the Looney gears
An animation can be shown here:
http://www.mekanizmalar.com/looney_gears.html
Note: there are five gears and in this version of the Looney gears, the used values are 37-19-11-7 (multiplied values are also working).
In the keystone of the Karlshafen house there are 50 (fifty) teeth.
I don't know if some other squares of numbers are possible, but the reference numbers of the Bible verses could be the solution