Caduceus as a symbol of medicine

Ancient sources associate Hermes with a variety of attributes, including wisdom, trade, deception, thievery, eloquence, negotiation, and alchemy.

The modern use of the caduceus as a symbol of medicine became established in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century as a result of well-documented mistakes and misunderstandings of symbology and classical culture.

[10] It is believed likely that rather than being evidence of a medical association per se, this is rather an allusion to the words of the Greek poet Homer who described the Caduceus as "possessing the ability to charm the eyes of men", which relates to the business of an oculist.

The role of Hermes in the afterlife was limited to guiding souls of the deceased, whereas the powerful Egyptian god Thoth was truly lord of the underworld and master of death.

Compared to Hermes, Thoth was associated much more with magic and with potent actions preserving balance in the divine world,[14] than with the unpredictable whims of a trickster deity.

Ancient examples of attributes similar to the caduceus, or to aspects of Hermes' portfolio of divine roles, include the Sumerian messenger and snake god Nirah, the occasional depictions of the major goddess Innana holding a scepter with two winding snakes (which lacked the wings of a caduceus), and the benevolent Egyptian goddess Wadjet who was often depicted as a winged cobra.

[3] The caduceus appears in a general medical context in the printer's device used by the Swiss medical printer Johann Frobenius (1460–1527), who depicted the staff entwined with serpents and surmounted by a dove, with a biblical epigraph in Greek, "Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves" (Matthew 10:16, here in the KJV translation),[5] in keeping with the connotations of the caduceus as a symbol of messengers and publishers based on the association of Hermes or Mercury with eloquence and negotiation.

During the remaining part of the nineteenth century several United States publishers appear to have copied or modified Churchill's caduceus and placed this mark on their medical books.

[21] Widespread confusion regarding the supposed medical significance apparently arose as a result of events in the United States that occurred in the second half of the 19th century.

[7] As pointed out by Garrison, the caduceus had appeared on the chevrons of Army hospital stewards as early as 1856[22] (William K. Emerson indicates the insignia was adopted earlier, in 1851).

[10] Hospital stewards were not physicians; they played a supporting role preparing drugs for surgeons, supervising nurses and cooks, maintaining accounting and medical records, and in emergencies sometimes performed minor surgery or provided prescriptions.

[7] Considerable light is shed on this confusion by an anonymous letter republished by Emerson, a historian of United States Army insignia and uniforms.

He indicates that the April 1924 issue of The Military Surgeon printed a review of an earlier article that appeared in the Presse Médicale in which the author stated "There is nothing in history to justify the use of the caduceus as the emblem of the physician [...] it is most unfortunate that the 'confusion' exists."

In an anonymous rebuttal contained in a letter to the editor published three months later in The Military Surgeon it was claimed that the late Col. John R. van Hoff was a member of the board that selected the emblem ("if he was not the one who was chiefly instrumental in its adoption").

In the letter to the editor reproduced by Emerson, the anonymous author claims Hoff was far too scholarly and intelligent a man to commit the blunder of 'confusing' the caduceus with the serpent staff of Aesculapius.

[citation needed] Even the American Medical Association used the symbol for a time, but in 1912, after considerable discussion, the caduceus was abandoned by the AMA and the rod of Asclepius was adopted instead.

Despite widespread acceptance of the caduceus as a medical symbol in the United States, it has been said that the rod of Asclepius has "the more ancient and authentic claim to be the emblem of medicine".

Soon thereafter, everyone in the United States was emulating the mistake.It has been said that the caduceus is particularly inappropriate for use as a medical symbol due to its long associations with the Greek god Hermes, who was patron of commerce and traders as well as thieves, liars, and gamblers.

[28] As god of the high-road and the market-place Hermes was perhaps above all else the patron of commerce and the fat purse: as a corollary, he was the special protector of the traveling salesman.

From this latter point of view, would not his symbol be suitable for certain Congressmen, all medical quacks, book agents and purveyors of vacuum cleaners, rather than for the straight-thinking, straight-speaking therapeutist?

For example, the director of communications of the Minnesota Medical Association is quoted as saying, "If it's got wings on it, it's not really the symbol of medicine; some may find it hard to believe, but it's true.

[33] However, Andrew Weil, a proponent of alternative medicine, has suggested that the caduceus is appropriate as a medical symbol "because it embodies an esoteric truth that must be grasped to gain practical control over the shifting forces that determine health and illness.