| OCR Text |
Show Derivation of the Word Magician, Many of the superstitious observances and ideas common among the Greeks and Romans, and some of which survived sur-vived till later times, were originally derived de-rived from Egypt and Persia, These countries, with Chaldea and Arabia, appear ap-pear to have formed a fountain of knowl-' knowl-' dge to mankind, either truthful or con-istent con-istent with nature, or altogether vain nd delusive. At a period fully 2,000 years before Christ Persia and the adjacent adja-cent regions of Babylonia and Chaldea were inhabited by a comparatively learned people. Persia in particular was distinguished for its wise men or magi, whose knowledge of geometry, astronomy astron-omy and other branches of science became be-came the wonder of surrounding nations na-tions and procured them the reputation of dealing with beings of a supernatural order. Thus from the general appellation appella-tion of rjiagi the term magician took its rise, and was deemed equivalent to that of conjurer, or a possessor of supernatural supernat-ural gifts. Ne w Y ork Ledger. |
