I1E11MAPIIRODITUS HERMES. 



709 



the human species. In many of the inferior tribes 

 of animals, the male and female parts of generation 

 are found to be united in the same animal. There 

 are both natural and unnatural or monstrous herma- 

 phrodites. The natural kind belongs to the inferior 

 and more simple orders of animals ; but, as animals 

 become more complicated, and each part is more 

 confined to a particular use, a separation of the 

 sexual characteristics takes place, and they are 

 found united only in some particular cases. In the 

 horse, ass, sheep, and cattle, such instances sometimes 

 occur. In the ca e of cattle, when a cow brings 

 forth two calves, one a bull, and the other a cow to 

 appearance, the cow is unfit for propagation, but the 

 bull-calf becomes a proper bull. Such cows do not 

 breed ; they do not show the least inclination for the 

 bull, nor does the bull ever take notice of them. 

 Among the country people in England, this kind of 

 calf is called a free-martin, and is as well known 

 among the farmers as either cow or bull. When 

 they are preserved, it is to yoke with the oxen, or 

 fatten for the table. They are much larger than 

 either the bull or the cow, and the horns grow 

 longer and bigger, being very similar to those of an 

 ox. The bellow of a free-martin is also similar to 

 that of the ox, and the meat is similar to that of the 

 ox or spayed heifer viz., much finer in the fibre 

 than that of either the bull or cow and they are 

 more susceptible of growing fat with good food. 



Among the invertebral animals, such as worms, 

 snails, leeches, &c., hermaphrodites are frequent. 

 In the memoirs of the French academy, we have an 

 account of this very extraordinary kind of herma- 

 phrodites, wiiich not only have both sexes, but do 

 the office of both at the same time. Such are 

 earth-worms, round-tailed worms, found in the intes- 

 tines of men and horses, land-snails, and those of 

 fresh waters, and all the sorts of leeches. Among 

 the animals of this sort, however, there are great 

 numbers which are so far from being hermaphrodites, 

 that they are of no sex at all. Ot this kind are all 

 the caterpillars, maggots, and worms produced of 

 the eggs of flies of all kinds. But the reason of this 

 is plain : these are not animals in a perfect state, but 

 disguises under which animals lurk. They have no 

 business with the propagating of their species, but 

 are to be transformed into animals of another kind, 

 by the putting off their several coverings ; and then 

 only they are in their perfect state, and therefore 

 then only show the differences of sex. When they 

 have reached this state, they unite, and their eggs 

 produce those creatures which show no sex till they 

 arrive at that perfect state again. 



HERMAPHRODITUS (called also Atlantius, 

 from his grandfather Atlas) was the son of Mercury 

 (Hermes) and Venus (Aphrodite), and united in him- 

 self the beauty and the names of both his parents. 

 He was educated by the nyuiphs of mount Ida, and, 

 at the age of fifteen, he abandoned his home, and 

 wandered in the neighbouring regions. As he stood 

 by the transparent fountain of the nymph Salmacis, 

 in Caria, she was captivated with his charms. The 

 modest youth rejected her entreaties; but, as he was 

 bathing in the fountain, she ardently embraced him. 

 Still, however, he refused to return her love. The 

 nymph entreated the gods, that they might never 

 more be separated. Her prayer was heard, and they 

 were immediately united into one body, retaining 

 the characteristics of both sexes. The youth begged 

 of his parents, that whoever might bathe in the 

 fountain, should undergo the same change. There 

 is a celebrated statue of Hermaphroditus in the 

 gallery of the grand duke at Florence. Another 

 has lately been found among the ruins of Pompeii. 

 (See Bottiger's Amalthea, voL i.) This work con- 



tains some remarks on the Hermaphrodite statues, 

 and their connexion with Bacchus. Bottiger is of 

 opinion that the fable of Hermaphroditus sprung 

 from the old Asiatic doctrine of a union of the gene- 

 rating and conceiving power in the same principle. 

 Others think Hermaphroditus a composition of 

 Mercury and Venus, exhibiting the union of elo- 

 quence, or of commerce, represented by Mercury, 

 with pleasure, or Venus. 



HERMELIN, SAMUEL GCSTAVUS, baron, a Swedish 

 nobleman, eminent for his literary and scientific at- 

 tainments, a native of Stockholm, was born in 1744. 

 Having early in life travelled for improvement over 

 a great, part of the European continent, he was after- 

 wards intrusted with the conduct of a diplomatic 

 mission from his own government to that of the 

 United States of America. On his return, in 1784, 

 he visited England, of which he made the tour, 

 directing his attention there, as well as in the other 

 countries through which he passed, principally to the 

 study of geology and statistics. In the pursuit of his 

 favourite sciences, no small portion of his property, 

 and more than fifteen years of his life, were devoted 

 to a most laborious geographical undertaking, which, 

 commencing with the survey of Westro-Bothnia and 

 Lapland, finally ripened, through the assistance of a 

 company, which he formed on the failure of his own 

 pecuniary resources, into the completion of an entire 

 Swedish atlas. Through his exertions, also, and 

 principally at his own expense, great improvements 

 were introduced among the mining establishments 

 of the country, especially in Bothnia, where three 

 new forges were erected by him, anJ the iron mines, 

 of which he was now appointed superintendent, were 

 worked under his direction. After fifty-four years 

 spent in active service, he retired from public life in 

 1815, retaining his salary, with an additional pension 

 of 1000 rix dollars. Besides a great variety of tracts 

 printed among the Transactions of the Academy of 

 Stockholm, of which society he had been a member 

 since the year 1771, the following treatises were 

 published by him in a separate form : a Mineralogical 

 Description of Lapland and Westro-Bothnia, with 

 Tables of the Population and Industry of the latter 

 Province ; Mineralogical Charts of the Southern 

 Provinces of Sweden; On the Melting and Casting 

 of Copper Minerals; On the Use of Stones found in 

 the Swedish Quarries ; and an Essay on the Resources 

 of the Swedish Provinces. Mr Hermelin closed a 

 long and useful life at the age of seventy-four, May 

 4, 1820. 



HERMENEUTICS (formed from a Greek word, 

 which signifies to explain or interpret} is the science 

 which fixes the principles of interpretation. The 

 word is commonly used only of the interpretation of 

 the sacred writings. Hermeneutics bears the same re 

 lation to exegesis, as theory to practice. See exegesis. 



HERMES. See Mercury. 



HERMES, in statuary, are heads placed on a 

 quadrangular stone. They probably received their 

 name from Hermes (the Greek for Mercury), whose 

 statues were most frequently made in this way, and 

 erected by the side of the road. Hermathene, com- 

 pounded of 'Effts and A^ (Minerva), is a Hermes 

 head of Minerva ; Ilermeracles is one of Heracles or 

 Hercules : and Hernieros, that of Eros or Cupid, &c. 

 Statues of this kind were the first attempts of Greek 

 statuary ; but this form was retained even in the 

 most flourishing period of Greek art. In Athens, 

 they were placed before every house, and it wna 

 considered an act of sacrilege to violate them. With 

 the Romans, they were called Termini, from the 

 god of boundaries, Terminus, because they were 

 used as land-marks and mile-stones. Not only gods 

 and demigods were represented under the form of 



