BLACK ART, the art or pretended art or practice of producing, wonderful effects by the aid of superhuman beings or of departed spirits or the occult powers of nature, called black because proficients in it were supposed to be in league with the powers of darkness. A large proportion of magical rites are connected with the religious beliefs of those using them, their efficacy being ascribed to supernatural beings. There is, however, a non-spiritual element in magic which depends on certain imagined powers and correspondences in nature, that can be utilized in various ways. In savage coun tries the native magician is often sorcerer and priest, and sometimes chief of the tribe. Among the ancient Egyptians magic was worked into an elaborate system and ritual, and it was regu larly practised among the Babylonians and As syrians, as well as in Greece and Rome. Alex
andria, from the 2d to the 4th century, became the headquarters of theurgic magic, in which imiocations, sacrifices, diagrams, talismans, etc., were systematically employed. This system, influenced by Jewish magical speculation, had a stronif hold in mediaeval Europe, and many distinguished names are found among its stu dents and professors. The magic which still holds a place among the illiterate and ignorant classes has come down by tradition in popular folk-lore. The name "natural magic" has been given to the art of applying natural causes to produce surprising effects. It includes the art of performing tricks and exhibiting illusions by means of apparatus, the performances of autom aton figures, etc. See ALCHEMY; ASTROLOGY; CHARM; DIVINATION; LEGERDEMAIN; WITCH CRAFT.