The Rod of Aesculapius latin spelling has a single snake intertwined with a rough branch, and no wings. The Caduceus was originally the symbol of the Greek messenger god, Hermes, known as Mercury by the Romans. This symbol has long been associated with non-combatants and with heralds and messengers. Aesculapius was the Greco-Roman god of medicine, a son of Apollo. He is usually depicted with a walking stick entwined with a single serpent.
While the Rod of Aesculapius would appear to be the logical choice for the symbol of medicine, in military medicine both the Rod of Aesculapius and the Caduceus are used, mainly because medical personnel are considered non-combatants during conflicts.
The two symbols were not necessarily interchangeable, but both came to represent the medical service. The original coat of arms for the U. Hospital Department, established in , included the Rod of Aesculapius, twenty stars, thirteen stripes, and a rooster. In , the Caduceus was first used on the arm chevron worn by Hospital Stewards and stretcher bearers to indicate their non-combatant status.
The confusion started when both symbols—the Caduceus and Rod of Asclepius—were used interchangeably by many medical organizations. In , the U. Army Medical Corps used the Caduceus as a badge of neutrality, referencing the emblem used on ancient, noncombatant merchant ships. It also differentiated their emblem from those of military medicine in other countries. Unfortunately, it resulted in confusion and misuse of the Caduceus in medicine in modern times.
The majority of medical organizations now favor the use of the Aesculapian rod, but some continue to use the Caduceus as a medical symbol. This is somewhat similar to the confusion between the Florian Cross and the Maltese Cross , which are often used interchangeably as the symbol for firefighters and firefighting departments. In the 16th century, the study of alchemy includes metals, chemistry, and medicine.
The practitioners of the Hermetic arts and alchemists believed that the Caduceus symbolizes the four elements: the wings for the air, the movement of serpents for the water, the snakes for the fire, and the rod for the earth. Caduceus symbol is identified with thieves, merchants, and messengers, and Mercury is said to be a patron of thieves and outlaws, not a desirable protector of physicians. The modern use of staff of Aesculapius started when The American Medical Association had the staff of Aesculapius as its symbol in Does any disease that can be treated by a stick come to your mind?
Yes, it is none other than Dracunculus medinensis the guinea worm. This is potentially a disease that can be treated with the stick that was also one of the reasons why the medical symbol originated. The use of the symbol is very ironical as how can destructive creatures used to represent a healing purpose. The answer lies in the snakes characters of, skin shedding representing immortal life, sudden change in activity emphasizing transit from sickness to cure, early use in the bible, and most important of all it was used by Asclepius who is the god of healing.
Source of Support: Nil. Conflict of Interest: None declared. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. J Pharm Bioallied Sci. M Prakash and J. Carlton Johnny. Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer.
Address for correspondence: Dr. Prakash M, E-mail: moc. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.
Abstract It is a known fact that every symbol has a unique meaning. Open in a separate window. The caduceus or the staff of Hermes, depicted as a stick entwined by two snakes and surmounted wings is the symbol of modern medicine in India and elsewhere. Most major hospitals, medical colleges, clinics, professional bodies, prescriptions and medical journals spport this symbol either as an emblem or as part of their logo.
The car windshields of many doctors feature this symbol prominently as a badge of prestige and honor. But unfortunately, the very emblem we flaunt as an insignia of our profession is a false symbol and has nothing or very little to do with the noble art of healing.
The true and authentic symbol of Medicine is not the Caduceus but the Rod of Asclepius [ 1 ]. The Rod of Asclepius is a single serpent entwined rod wielded by the Greek God of healing and Medicine, Asclepius [ 2 ]. In Greek mythology Asclepius is the son of Apollo- the god of light, the Sun, truth and also a god of healing. The Hippocratic Oath which all physicians have taken for centuries is dedicated to the same four deities, namely Apollo, Asclepius, Hygieia and Panacea.
In contrast Hermes, also a Greek God and his counterpart in Roman mythology, Mercury are patron Gods of commerce, trade, merchants and a protector of tricksters and thieves.
More importantly Hermes is a God of transitions and boundaries, and moves freely between the worlds of the mortal and divine and guides departed souls to the underworld.
In a Captain in the US Army medical corps mistook the caduceus for the Rod of Asclepius and proposed the adoption of the caduceus as the corps official symbol.
Unfortunately, others allied to medical services in the U. The staff of Hermes embodies cunning machinations and death, hardly the connotations an emblem of healing should evoke.
Most Prescriptions today are prefixed by the symbol Rx. The symbol of the International Committee of the Red Cross is a red cross on a white background, this symbol was adopted at the Geneva convention in , this was done mainly to protect medical vehicles and buildings from any military attack during a conflict but this symbol is often mistakenly used to sometimes indicate first aid stations and medical supplies [ 8 ].
This symbol was adopted in honor of Henry Dunant, the Swiss humanitarian and businessman who inspired the formation of the international committee of the Red Cross. Since Henry Dunant was a Swiss citizen, an inverse of the Swiss flag which is a white cross on a red background was used as the official emblem. But knowledge and awareness of the history of the symbols associated with our noble profession is lacking or nominal.
There is also a great deal of confusion about the legitimacy of certain symbols and their origin. The purpose of this study is to assess the knowledge of medical symbols among doctors and medical students.
To assess the knowledge of medical symbology among the medical fraternity and the adoption of those symbols among medical institutions and specialty associations. A single page questionnaire was distributed among doctors and medical students. The awareness and knowledge on 3 symbols-the Rx sign, the Red Cross emblem and the veracity of the genuine symbol; the Caduceus vs the rod of Asclepius was assessed.
The doctors group included an equal number 50 of faculty, postgraduates, interns and private practitioners. The faculty and students were from three medical colleges in the city. The top 10 medical colleges list was based on public perception. Therefore, the India Today magazine list of the top 10 medical colleges [ 9 ] was used as the template to choose the college logos. Similarly the logos of corporate hospital chains in India were also observed.
In our study most respondents believed that the true symbol of modern medicine was the caduceus, only a miniscule six percent were aware of the rod of the asclepius and its importance. The younger respondents- interns and undergraduates had relatively better awareness about the rod of Asclepius, and this was probably due to them being more internet savvy and being more active in online medical forums. Knowledge about the Rx symbol was good, while all respondents were aware of the symbol, almost half did not know the true meaning of the symbol.
Understandably, knowledge of the symbol was best among private practitioners and faculty, and least among medical students. Postgraduate Institute Chandigarh although not featured in the list because it does not have undergraduate courses, was also one of the few medical colleges which featured the rod of Asclepius in its logo.
Show the Caduceus, a staff entwined by two serpents [ 10 ].
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