The Two Faces of Medicine

It’s amazing how much time I can spend procrastinating three days before my last exam! I’m trying to memorize my notes, but I’m finding them much more interesting to read with my eyes closed. After an hour passed out in front of my books, I feel like I deserve a break. Perfect time to look up the origin of the staff and snake symbol commonly associated with the medical profession. It seems like there are two different symbols, one with two snakes and wings on top, and one with just one snake.

The winged staff is a Caduceus, the symbol of Hermes, the Greek messenger god. He is known as a great mediator, a diplomat, and best of all, the patron god of thieves! Insert managed care joke here.

The staff with one snake is the staff of Aesculapius, the Greek god of medicine. Aesculapius was trained by Chirion, a centaur skilled in the healing arts. Aesculapius’ disciples were among the first professional healers in western civilization. In fact, Hippocrates, aka Notorious HIP, was a member of the Aesculapius cult.

The confusion between the two began with a set of German medical texts that were printed with the Caduceus symbol on the cover instead of the staff of Aesculapius. The mistake was magnified in 1902 when the US Army Medical Corps selected it as their official symbol because they preferred its more streamlined shape.

Incidentally, Zeus killed Aesculapius in a drive-by lightning bolt attack after Hades, god of the underworld, complained that he was healing too many people. So I guess there is such a thing as being too good at your job.