A closer look
The classic magic word you shout before pulling a rabbit out of a hat used to be serious pharmaceutical advice. In the second century, the Roman physician Serenus Sammonicus prescribed a very specific cure for deadly malaria fevers. He instructed patients to write 'abracadabra' on a piece of parchment in a descending triangle and wear it around their neck as an amulet. The idea was that as the word vanished letter by letter, the lethal disease would magically shrink with it. Shockingly, the Roman mortality rate remained terrible.
