Chapter Hercules of Music to Hero of H by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

enact that every hermaphrodite should choose one sex and keep to it. According to fable, all persons who bathed in the fountain Salmacis, in Caria, became hermaphrodites.
   Some think by comparing Gen. i.27 with Gen. ii. 20-24 that Adam at first combined in himself both sexes.

Hermegyld or Hermyngyld. The wife of the constable of Northumberland, who was converted to Christianity by Cunstance, by whose bidding she restored sight to a blind Briton. (Chaucer: Man of Lawes Tale.)

Hermensul or Ermensul. A Saxon deity, worshipped in Westphalia. Charlemagne broke the idol, and converted its temple into a Christian church. The statue stood on a column, holding a standard in one hand, and a balance in the other. On its breast was the figure of a bear, and on its shield a lion. Probably it was a war-god.

Hermes (2 syl.). The Greek Mercury; either the god or the metal.

"So when we see the liquid metal fall
Which chemists by the name of Hermes call."
Hoole: Ariosto, book viii.

   Milton (Paradise Lost, iii. 603) calls quicksilver "Volatil Hermes."

Hermetic Art The art or science of alchemy; so called from the Chaldean philosopher, Hermes Trismegistus, its hypothetical founder.

Hermetic Books Egyptian books written under the dictation of Thoth (the Egyptian Hermes), the scribe of the gods. Iamblichus gives their number as 20,000, but Manetho raises it to 36,525. These books state that the world was made out of fluid; that the soul is the union of light and life; that nothing is destructible; that the soul transmigrates; and that suffering is the result of motion.

Hermetic Philosophy A system which acknowledges only three chemical principles - viz. salt, sulphur, and mercury - from which it explains every phenomenon of nature. (See Hermes.)

Hermetic Powder The sympathetic powder, supposed to possess a healing influence from a distance. The mediæval philosophers were very fond of calling books, drugs, etc., connected with alchemy and astrology by the term hermetic, out of compliment to Hermes Trismegistus. (Sir Kenelm Digby: Discourse Concerning the Cure of Wounds by Sympathy.)

"For by his side a pouch he wore
Replete with strange hermetic powder,
That wounds nine miles point- blank would solder." Butler: Hudibras, i. 2.

Hermetically Sealed Closed securely. Thus we say, "My lips are hermetically sealed," meaning so as not to utter a word of what has been imparted. The French say close-fitting doors and windows "shut hermetically." When chemists want to preserve anything from the air, they heat the neck of the vessel till it is soft, and then twist it till the aperture is closed up. This is called sealing the vessel hermetically, or like a chemist. (From Hermës, called Trismegistus, or thrice- great, the supposed inventor of chemistry.)

Hermia Daughter of Egeus, who betrothed her to Demetrius; but she refused to marry him, as she was in love with Lysander. (Shakespeare: Mid-summer Night's Dream.)

Hermione (4 syl.). Wife of Leontes, King of Silicia. Being suspected of infidelity, she was thrown into jail, swooned, and was reported to be dead. She was kept concealed till her infant Perdita was of marriageable age, when Leontes discovered his mistake, and was reconciled to his wife. (Shakespeare: Winter's Tale.)

Hermit (The English). Roger Crab. He subsisted at the expense of three farthings a week, or 3s. 3d. per annum. His food consisted of bran, herbs, roots, dock-leaves, mallows, and grass. Crab died in 1680.

Hermit Peter the Hermit. Preacher of the first crusade. (1050-1115.)