Magic
the art or pretended art of putting in action the power of spirits; the science or art of producing preternatural effects by the medium of supernatural means, or the aid of departed spirits, or the occult powers of nature.
A belief in magic is to be reckoned among the earliest growths of human thought.
The practice of magic had its origin in the belief in an objective connection between two things a man and a rude drawing or image image of him, or two eventsas between the birth of a child and the rising or setting of a particular star, when, in truth, the connection could only be subjective.
Black magic: Magic proper, or that division of it which in former times fell into the hands of unofficial persons, or was practiced with malefic intentions.
Celestial magic: A supposed supernatural power which gave to spirits a kind of dominion over the planets, and to the planets an influence over man. Natural magic: The art of applying natural causes MAGNESITE (Magna Charta Libertatum), signed and sealed by King John at the demand of his barons, at Runnymede, on June 15, 1215. It was several times confirmed by his successors. or MAGNA GRÆCIA (grēshiä), MAJOR GRÆCIA, in ancient history, the name applied by Greek writers to their colonies formed on the S. shores of Italy, Cumæ having by general consent the precedence in point of antiquity, though the date of its foundation 1050 B. c., is not to be relied on. There is much uncertainty as to the precise dates of the various settlements; but the greater number of them were probably made between 735 в. c. and 685 в. c.; Sybaris, 720 B. c., and Crotona, 710 в. C., the two most powerful cities, were founded by the Achæans. Tarentum, a Spartan colony, was established about 708 в. c.; Metapontum by the Achæans, 700-680 B. C.; and Locris by the Locrians, about 700 B. C.
MAGNESIA (-nē'shiä), in mineralogy, the same as periclase. Used as a drug, if administered in small doses, magnesia acts as an antacid; if in quantity beyond what is necessary to neutralize acids in gouty diseases. to produce effects apparently supernatu- the stomach, it passes undigested into ral. Superstitious or goetic magic: :The the intestines, and may form concretions. invocation of devils or demons involving The salts of magnesia are purgatives. the supposition of some tacit or express It is given as a lithontriptic, from its agreement between them and human bepower of dissolving uric acid, and in ings. White magic: (a) Magic practiced for the benefit of others. (b) The art of performing tricks and exhibiting illusions by aid of apparatus, excluding feats of dexterity in which there is no deception, together with the performance of such automaton figures as are actuated in a secret and mysterious manner.