ROCKY MOUNTAIN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. y\ 
It is in this stage of development and human knowl- 
edge, corresponding closely to that stage of mental 
antiquity were in a great measure governed by the pretense of super- 
natural influence arrogated to themselves by persons whom we desig- 
nate magicians. Such were the Vaidhyas of India, the Magi of Persia 
and Babylon, the Priesthood of Egypt, the Druids of Gaul and Britain, 
and probably the ^Esclapiadse of Greece; and such also, to some ex- 
tent, are the Lamas of Thibet and Tartary, and some of the present 
Brahmins of Hindustan. They have, in fact, existed in all pagan 
nations. Christianity alone has persistently and unequivocally op- 
posed and combated the practice and the professors of magic. 
Alchemy, which was the original form of chemistry, was almost 
synonymous with magic in early times ; or it might perhaps be more 
properly considered a branch of the art of magic. Both words, 
"alchemy" and "chemistry," are derived from Chetjii, the primitive 
name of Egypt ; and in that land of mystery and of wonders the prac- 
tice of magic reached its greatest perfection. History, both sacred 
and profane, is full of the juggleries of the priests of the Nile; and 
the reader will readily recall the remarkable and for a time apparently 
doubtful contest which, by means of their mysterious and magical 
arts, the Pharaonic priesthood waged with the representatives of Israel. 
The magic of Jannes and Jambres was almost a match for the miracles 
of Moses and Aaron. 
But the word " magic " is itself of Eastern origin, and derived from 
the famous priesthood, or priest-philosophers, of Media and Chaldea 
the Magi, sometimes known as the Wise Men of the East. The Magi 
were the priests of Babylon and Persia, and are supposed to have been 
of Median or Chaldean origin ; but their origin, as well as their history, 
and the position they held in the politico-religious economy of the As- 
syro-Babylonian monarcliy and the Medo-Persian empire is very ob- 
scure. Neither is it definitely ascertained what their relation was to the 
Zoroastrian system of religion, or whether they were originally the 
enemies or the promoters of that remarkable scheme. But it is certain 
that they engrossed most of the wisdom and learning of Southern Asia; 
and that, by their possession, almost exclusively, of all the knowledge 
of the time, they were enabled to sway the minds of their more 
ignorant contemporaries under the pretense of the possession of super- 
natural powers. They became so proficient in the wonder-working 
art that, to the Greeks, they gave their name to that art; which 
