HER
t 2 42 ]
HER
At Athens, and Rome, they look'd on Hermaphrodites as ominous Mongers, and precipitated them into the Sea 5 as we are inform 'd by Alexander ab Alexandre
&. de Rennefort relates, that at Sunt there arc Abun- dance of Hermaphrodites ; who, with Women's Cloaths, wear Men's Turbans, to diftinguifb. them, and let all the World know they have two Sexes.
In 157S, Albert, Bifnop of Bremen, and Brother oi the Duke of Brtmfivic, was accufed by John dc Tzefie- zulete, or Ceftervel, Dean of his Chapter, with being an Hermaphrodite ; but he cleared himfelf.
J. Frederic Mayer, a Lutheran Divine, has an exprels Diifertation, to prove that an Hermaphrodite cannot be a Prieft : ' It was printed at Gryppivald in 1705. And Wittenberg, another Lutheran of Dantzick, has wrote to prove them excluded from all Civil Employments, like Women.
The Word is form'd of the Greek, lfV*?»'J>»©-, a Comnound of efftisj Mercury, and apaJim, Venus, q. d a Mixture of Mercury and Venus, i. e. of Male and
Female. . ,.
For it is to be obferved, Hennaphroditus was origi- nally 'a proper Name ; applied, by the Heathen Mytho- loeifts; to a fabulous Deity, whom fome reprefent as a Son of Hermes, Mercury, and Aphrodites, Venus ; and who being defperately in Love with the Nymph Sal- macida, obtain'd of the Gods to have his Body and hers united into one. Others fay, that the God Her- maphroditus was conceiv'd as a Compofition of Mercury and Venus, to exhibit the Union between Eloquence, or rather Commerce, whereof Mercury was God ; with Pleafure, whereof Vemis was the proper Deity. Lailly, others think this Junffion intended to ftww that Venus, Pleafure, was of both Sexes : As, in Effeft, the Poet Calvits calls Venus a God.
'Pollentemque 'Detain Veaerem. As alfo Virgil, M.ve\&. Lib. II.
Difcedo ac ducente Deo flammam inter & hojles Expedior ■ — ■ — ■
Hefychius obferves M. Spoil, calls Venus Aphrodites ; and Theophrajius affirms, that Aphroditos, or Venus, is Hennaphroditus ; and that in the Ifland of Cyprus She has a Statue, which reprefents her with a Beard like a Man.
Hermaphrodite, is alfo applied, metaphorically, to divers other Things befide Men.
The lateft Botanifts and Florifts, make a Divifion of Plants, which they call Hermaphrodites ; as having both the Male and Female Parts of Generation, vie. the Sta- mina and Piftil in the fame Flower. See Plant, Flower, Generation, Pistil, ISc.
Divers of the Infeft and Reptile Kind, are alfo Her- maphrodites; particularly Worms, Snails, (Sc. See Insect, iSc.
In the Memoirs of the French Academy, we have an Account of a very extraordinary Kind of Hermaphro- dites, which not only have both Sexes, but do the Office of both at the fame Time. — Such are Earth-Worms, the round tail'd Worms found in the Inteflines of Men and Horfes ; Land-Snails, and thofe of ftelh Waters ; and all the Sorts of Leaches. And as all thefe are Reptiles, and without Bones, M. foupart concludes it probable, that all other Infefls which have thofe two Characters, are alfo Hermaphrodites.
The Method of Coupling, pracrifed in' this Clafs of Hermaphrodites, may be illultrated in the Inftance of Earth-Worms. Thefe little Serpents creep, two by two, into Holes proper to receive them j where they difpofe their Bodies in fuch Manner, as that the Head of the one is turn'd to the Tail of the other. Being thus ftretch'd out length-wife, a little conical Button, or papilla, is thrutt forth by each, and received into an Aperture of the other.
Thefe Animals, being Male at one End of the Body, and Female at the other ; and the Body flexible withal ; M. Homberg does not think it impoffible but that an Earth- Worm may couple with it felt 5 and be both the Father and Mother of its young.
HERMATHENA, in Antiquity, a Figure reprcfenting Mercury and Minerva both in one.
M. Spon gives divers Figures of Hermathen£, in his Rech. Cur. de I'Antiquite, p. 98. They are a Sort of Statues rais'd on fquare Pcdeftals, after the Manner of Hermes ; only that the Attributes of Minerva are added thereto. See Hermes.
The Word is a Compound of Hermes, Mercury ; and Athena, a Greek Name of Minerva.
HERMERACLES, in Antiquity, a Figure compounded »f Mercury and Hercules.
M. Spoil gives us a Type of an Hermeracles, Rech. Cur. de I'Antiq. p. 9«. pig. xiii. The Name Hermeracles, he obferves, was given to a Divinity, reprefented after the Manner of Hermes, with the additional Attributes of Hercules, viz. a Lion's Skin and a Club. — This he afcribes to the Cuftom among the Greeks, of placing the Statues of Mercury and Hercules in the Academy, and Gymua- ftums, as both the one and the other prefided over the Exercifes of the Youth.
HERMES, among Antiquaries, a Sort of Figure or Statue, of the God Mercury ; ufually made of Marble, tho' fometiraes of Brafs, without Arms or Legs 5 and planted by the Greeks and Romans in their Crois-ways.
Servius gives us the Origin hereof, in his Comment on the VIII th Book of the JEneid. Some Shepherds, fays he, having one Day caught Mercury, call'd by the Greeks Hermes, afleep, on a Mountain ; they cut off his Hands ; from which he, as well as the Mountain where the Action was done, became denominated Cyllenius, from jw'aa©-, maim'd : And thence, adds Servius, it is, that certain Statues without Arms are denominated Hermes's, Herniates.
But this Etymology of the Epithet Cyllenius, contra- dicts moft of the other antient Authors, who derive ic hence, that Mercury was born at Cylleims, a City ofyfr- cadia, or even on the Mountain Cyllenus it felf, which had been thus call'd before him.
Suidas gives a Moral Explication of this Cuftom of making the Statues of Mercury without Arms. The Her- metes, fays he, were Statues of Stone placed at the Ve- ftibles, or Porches of the Doors, and Temples at Athens j For this Rcafon, that as Mercury was held the God of Speech and of Truth, fquare and cubical Statues were peculiarly proper ; having this in common with Truth, that on what Side foevcr they are view'd, they always ap- pear the fame.
It muft be obferved, that Athens abounded more than any other Place in Hermes's : There were Abundance of very fignal ones in divers Parts of the City ; and they were one of the principal Ornaments of the Place. They were alfo placed in the high Roads and Cro r s-ways, by Reafon Mercury, who was the Courier of the Gods, pre- fided over the High-ways : Whence his Surname ot'Trivius, from Trivium, and that of Viacus, from Via.
From Suidas's Account above cited, it appears, that the Terms, 'Termini, ufed among us in the Doors, Balconies, 5?c. of our Buildings ; take their Origin from thefe Athe- nian Hermes's ; and that it were more proper to call them Hermetes than Termini ; for that tho' the Roman Termini were fquare Stones, whereon a Head was fre- quently placed, yet they were rather ufed as Land-Marks, and mere-Stones, than as Ornaments of Building. See Termini.
HERMETIC, or Hermetical Art, a Name given to Chymiftry, on a Suppolition that Hermes Trifmegiftus w.ts the Inventor thereof, or excell'd therein. See Chymistry.
We know but little of this Hermes, only that he was an antient King of Egypt, 1000 Years prior to JEfcu- lapius. Zozimus c Panopolitaims mentions him as having wrote of Natural Things ; and there are feveral Pieces ftill extant under his Name, but all fuppofititious. See Volume.
Hermetical 'Philofofhy, is that which undertakes to folve and explain all the Phenomena of Nature, from the three Chymical Principles, Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury. See Philosophy. See alio Principle, &c.
A confiderable Augmentation was made to the antient Hermetical Tbilofophy by the modern Docfrine of Alcali and Acid. See Alcali and Acid.
Hermetical 'Phyjic, ot Medicine, is that Syftem, or Hypothec's, in the Art of Healing, which explains the Caufes of Difeafes, and the Operations of Medicines on the Principles of the Hermetical 'Fhilofopby ; and particu- larly on the Syflcm of Alcali and Acid. See Medicine and Chymistry.
Hermetical Seal, a Manner of flopping or clofing Glafs Veffels, for Chymical Operations, fo very accurately, that nothing can exhale, or efcape ; not even the moil fubtile Spirits.
It is perform'd by heating the Neck, of the Matrafs, or other Veffel, in the Flame of a Lamp, till it be ready to melt ; and then with a Pair of Pinchers twilling it clofe together. — This they call putting on Hermes's Seal.
Tho', there are other Ways of fealing Veflels Hermeti- cally, viz. by Hopping them with a Plug, or Stopple of Glafs, well luted into the Neck of the Veffel. — Or, by turning another Ovum 'Philofophicum upon that wherein, the Matter is contain'd.
HERMHARPOCRATES, in Antiquity, a Deity, or Figure of a Deity, compofed of Mercury, and Harpocrates, the God of Silence. '
M. Spon,
