Her´mês

( 2 syl. ), son of Maia; patron of commerce. Akenside makes Hermês say to the Thames, referring to the merchant ships of England: By you [ ships ] my function and my honored name Do I po e ; while o’er the Bætic vale, Or thro’ the towers of Memphis, or the palms By sacred Ganges watered, I conduct The English merchant. Akenside, Hymn to the Naiads (1767). (The Bætis is the Guadalquiver, and the Bætic vale Granāda and And a lucia). Her´mês ( 2 syl. ), the same as Mercury, and applied both to the god and to the metal. Milton calls quicksilver “volatil Hermês.” So when we see the liquid metal fall, Which chemists by the name of Hermes call. Hoole’s Ariosto , viii. Hermês (St.) , same as St. Elmo, Suerpo Santo, Castor and Pollux, etc. A comazant or electric light, seen occasionally on ship’s masts. “They shall see the fire which saylors call St. Hermes, fly uppon their shippe, and alight upon the toppe of the mast.”—De Loier, Treatise of Spectres, 67 (1605).