MAGIA, MAGI, in its ancient sense, the science, or discipline and doctrine of the magi, or wise men of Persia. See MAGI.
The origin of magic and the magi is ascribed to Zoroaster: Salmasius derives the very name from Zoroaster, who, he says, was surnamed Magus. Others, instead of making him the author of the Persian philosophy, make him only the reformer and improver thereof; alleging, that many of the Persian rites in use among the magi, were borrowed from the Zabiti among the Chaldeans, who agreed in many things with the magi of the Persians; whence some make the name magus common both to the Chaldeans and Persians. Thus Plutarch mentions, that Zoroaster instituted magi among the Chaldeans, in imitation whereof the Persians had theirs too.
a more modern sense, is a science which teaches to perform wonderful and surprising effects.
The word magic originally carried with it a very innocent, nay laudable, meaning; being used purely to signify the study of wisdom, and the more sublime parts of knowledge: but in regard the ancient magi engaged themselves in astrology, divination, sorcery, &c. the term magic in time became odious, and was only used to signify an unlawful and diabolical kind of science, depending on the assistance of the devil and departed souls.
If any wonder how so vain and deceitful a science should gain so much credit and authority over mens minds, Pliny gives the reason of it. It is, says he, because it has possessed itself of three sciences of the most esteem among men; taking from each, all that is great and marvellous in it. Nobody doubts but it had its first origin in medicine; and that it infatuated itself into the minds of the people, under pretence of affording extraordinary remedies. To these fine promises it added every thing in religion that is pompous and splendid, and that appears calculated to blind and captivate mankind. Lastly, it mingled judiciary astrology with the rest; persuading people, curious of futurity, that it saw every thing to come in the heavens. Agrippa divides magic into three kinds; natural, celestial, and ceremonial or superstitious.
Natural Magic is no more than the application of natural active causes to passive subjects; by means whereof many surprising, but yet natural, effects are produced. Baptista Porta has a treatise of natural magic, or of secrets for performing very extraordinary things by natural causes. The natural magic of the Chaldeans was nothing but the knowledge of the powers of simples and minerals. The magic which they called *theurgia*, consisted wholly in the knowledge of the ceremonies to be observed in the worship of gods; in order to be acceptable. By virtue of these ceremonies they believed they could converse with spiritual beings, and cure diseases.
*Celestial Magic*, borders nearly on judiciary astrology; it attributes to spirits a kind of rule or dominion over the planets, and to planets a dominion over men; and on these principles builds a ridiculous kind of system. See Astrology.
*Superstitious or Gothic Magic*, consists in the invocation of devils. Its effects are usually evil and wicked, though very strange and seemingly surpassing the powers of nature; supposed to be produced by virtue of some compact, either tacit or express, with evil spirits: but the truth is, these have not all the power that is usually imagined, nor do they produce those effects ordinarily ascribed to them.
Nande has published an apology for all the great men suspected of magic.—Agrrippa says, that the words used by those in compact with the devil, to invoke him, and to succeed in what they undertake, are *Dies, nies, jefquet, beneoefet, docvima, enitemus*. There are an hundred other superstitious formulas of words composed at pleasure, or gathered from several different languages, or patched from the Hebrew, or formed in imitation of it.
The most ignorant and barbarous people have been most generally suspected of magic. Among ourselves, the most miserably ignorant persons have been accused of it. Among foreigners, the Laplanders and Icelanders have been supposed most conversant of all others in it. These people themselves place an absolute confidence in the effects of certain idle words and actions; and the rest of the world is deceived in the same manner. The famous magical drum of the Laplanders is still in constant use in that nation; and Scheffer, in his history of Lapland, has given an account of its structure.
This instrument is made of beech, pine, or fir, split in the middle, and hallowed on the flat side where the drum is to be made. The hollow is of an oval figure; and is covered with a skin clean dressed, and painted with figures of various kinds, such as stars, suns and moons, animals and plants, and even countries, lakes and rivers; and of latter days, since the preaching of Christianity among them, the acts and sufferings of our Saviour and his apostles are often added among the rest. All these figures are separated by lines into three regions or clutters.
There is, besides these parts of the drum, an index and a hammer. The index is a bundle of brafs or iron rings, the biggest of which has a hole in its middle, and the smaller ones are hung to it. The hammer or drumstick is made of the horn of a rein-deer; and with this they beat the drum so as to make these rings move, they being laid on the top for that purpose. In the motion of these rings about the pictures figured on the drum, they fancy to themselves some prediction in regard to the things they inquire about.
What they principally inquire into by this instrument, are three things. 1. What sacrifices will prove most acceptable to their gods. 2. What success they shall have in their several occupations, as hunting, fishing, curing of diseases, and the like; and, 3. What is doing in places remote from them. On these several occasions they use several peculiar ceremonies, and place themselves in various odd postures as they beat the drum; which influences the rings to the one or the other side, and to come nearer to the one or the other set of figures. And when they have done this, they have a method of calculating a discovery, which they keep as a great secret, but which seems merely the business of the imagination in the diviner or magician.
Magic-Square, a square figure formed of a series of numbers in arithmetical proportion, so disposed in parallel and equal ranks, as that the sums of each row, taken either perpendicularly, horizontally, or diagonally, are equal.
The several numbers which compose any square number, (for instance, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, &c. to 25 inclusive, which compose the square number 25), being disposed after each other in a square figure of 25 cells, each in its cell; if then you change the order of these numbers, and dispose them in the cells, in such manner, as that the five numbers which fill an horizontal rank of cells, being added together, shall make the same sum with the five numbers in any other rank of cells, whether horizontal or vertical; and even the same number with the five in each of the two diagonal ranks; this disposition of numbers is called a magic-square, in opposition to the former disposition, which is called a natural square.
| Natural Square | Magic-Square | |---------------|-------------| | 1 2 3 4 5 | 16 14 8 2 25 | | 6 7 8 9 10 | 3 22 20 11 9 | | 11 12 13 14 15| 15 6 4 33 17 | | 16 17 18 19 20| 24 18 12 10 1 | | 21 22 23 24 25| 7 5 21 19 13 |
One would imagine that magic squares had that name given them in regard this property of all their ranks, which, taken any way, make always the same sum, appeared extremely surprising, especially in certain ignorant ages, when mathematics palled for magic. But there is a great deal of reason to suspect, that these squares merited their name still further by the superstitious operations they were employed in, as the construction of talismans, &c. For according to the childish philosophy of those days, which attributed virtues to numbers, what virtues might not be expected from numbers so wonderful?
However, what was at first the vain practice of makers of talismans and conjurors, has since become the subject of a serious research among mathematicians: not that they imagine it will lead them to any thing of solid use or advantage; magic squares favour too much of their original, to be of much use: but only as it is a kind of play, where the difficulty makes the merit; and as it may chance to produce some new views Magician. of numbers which mathematicians will not lose the occasion of.
Magic Lantern. See Dioptrics, art. ix. p. 2478.