Note 5 — Chapter I · ROGER BACON: THE TRUE AND THE LEGENDARY.
Reading edition
Hermes Trismegistus (‘thrice great’), a fabulous Chaldean philosopher, to whom I have already made reference. The numerous writings which bear his name were really composed by the Egyptian Platonists; but the mediæval alchemists pretend to recognise in him the founder of their art. Gower, in his ‘Confessio Amantis,’ says:
‘Of whom if I the namès calle, Hermes was one the first of alle, To whom this Art is most applied.’
The name of Hermes was chosen because of the supposed magical powers of the god of the caduceus.