33 



6th March, igoo. 



Professor Johnson Symington, M.D., F.R.S., F.R.S.E. 

 in the chair. 



MAGIC IN THE GREEK AND ROMAN WORLD 

 By R. M. Henry, M.A. 



(Abstract. ) 



The history of primitive Magic has of late years assumed an 

 increased importance in view of its bearing upon the question of 

 the origin of religion, many authorities holding that all primitive 

 religions are based in the last resort upon Magic. By Magic is 

 understood the savage principle of thought that like produces like 

 and the practices (such as rain making, healing diseases by 

 homoeopathic ceremonies and the like) to which it gave rise. 

 There are many survivals of this primitive stage of thought to be 

 found in the practices described by such writers as Lucian and the 

 Elder Pliny. Many of these ceremonies were accompanied by 

 spells which at a primitive period were merely statements that the 

 desired effect had been or would be produced. With a growth of 

 a belief in gods spells tended to become prayers, though the old 

 form still survived side by side with the later. In the spells of the 

 Magical Papyri of Paris, Berlin, Leyden, and London several 

 varieties can be discriminated. The long lines of unintelligible 

 formulae contain many words of Egyptian, Babylonian, and Hebrew 

 origin, pointing to borrowing with more or less intelligence from 

 the magical practices of these nations. The rows of letters of the 

 alphabet are the relics of a superstitious veneration for alphabetical 

 signs, which must have arisen with the invention of writing : the 

 employment of the alphabet as a spell to ward off evil demons is 

 found alike in the ruins of Pompeii and in the Catacombs. A 

 third class of spells in the Papyri are prayers to Apollo or Hekate. 



