Template:Caduceus confusion summary: Difference between revisions
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The Rod of Asclepius is the dominant symbol for professional healthcare associations in the United States. One survey found that 62% of professional healthcare associations used the rod of Asclepius as their symbol.<ref name="Friedlander">{{cite book|last=Friedlander|first=Walter J|title=The Golden Wand of Medicine: A History of the Caduceus symbol in medicine|publisher=Greenwood Press|year=1992|ISBN=0-313-28023-1}}</ref> The same survey found that 76% of commercial healthcare organizations used the Caduceus symbol. The author of the study suggests the difference exists because professional associations are more likely to have a historical understanding of the two symbols, whereas commercial organizations are more likely to be concerned with the visual impact a symbol will have in selling their products.<ref name="Friedlander" /> |
The Rod of Asclepius is the dominant symbol for professional healthcare associations in the United States. One survey found that 62% of professional healthcare associations used the rod of Asclepius as their symbol.<ref name="Friedlander">{{cite book|last=Friedlander|first=Walter J|title=The Golden Wand of Medicine: A History of the Caduceus symbol in medicine|publisher=Greenwood Press|year=1992|ISBN=0-313-28023-1}}</ref> The same survey found that 76% of commercial healthcare organizations used the Caduceus symbol. The author of the study suggests the difference exists because professional associations are more likely to have a historical understanding of the two symbols, whereas commercial organizations are more likely to be concerned with the visual impact a symbol will have in selling their products.<ref name="Friedlander" /> |
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The long-standing and abundantly attested historical associations of the caduceus with commerce |
The long-standing and abundantly attested historical associations of the caduceus with commerce has occasioned significant criticism of its use in a medical context. Many medical professionals argue that the Rod of Asclepius better represents the field of medicine and should be used instead.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bohigian |first1=George |title=The Caduceus vs. Staff of Aesculapius - One Snake or Two? |journal=[[Missouri Medicine]] |date=2019 |volume=116 |issue=6 |pages=476-477 |quote = "The Staff of Aesculapius has represented medicine since 800 BCE and most authorities support its use as the symbol of medicine}}</ref> |
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{{bquote|text=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. As spokesman for the gods, he not only brought peace on earth (occasionally even the peace of death), but his silver-tongued eloquence could always make the worse appear the better cause.<ref>An allusion to [[John Milton]]'s description of [[Belial]] in [[Paradise Lost]] II.113-114.</ref> 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? As conductor of the dead to their subterranean abode, his emblem would seem more appropriate on a hearse than on a physician's car.|author=Stuart L. Tyson|source="The Caduceus", in The Scientific Monthly in 1932<ref>{{cite journal|last=Tyson|first=Stuart L|title=The Caduceus|journal=Scientific Monthly|volume=34|number=6|page=495|date=1932}}</ref>}}<noinclude> |
{{bquote|text=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. As spokesman for the gods, he not only brought peace on earth (occasionally even the peace of death), but his silver-tongued eloquence could always make the worse appear the better cause.<ref>An allusion to [[John Milton]]'s description of [[Belial]] in [[Paradise Lost]] II.113-114.</ref> 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? As conductor of the dead to their subterranean abode, his emblem would seem more appropriate on a hearse than on a physician's car.|author=Stuart L. Tyson|source="The Caduceus", in The Scientific Monthly in 1932<ref>{{cite journal|last=Tyson|first=Stuart L|title=The Caduceus|journal=Scientific Monthly|volume=34|number=6|page=495|date=1932}}</ref>}}<noinclude> |
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Revision as of 14:40, 22 August 2023
It is relatively common, especially in the United States, to find the caduceus, with its two snakes and wings, used as a symbol of medicine instead of the Rod of Asclepius, with only a single snake. This usage was popularised largely as a result of the adoption of the caduceus as its insignia by the U.S. Army Medical Corps in 1902 at the insistence of a single officer (though there are conflicting claims as to whether this was Capt. Frederick P. Reynolds or Col. John R. van Hoff).[1][2]
The Rod of Asclepius is the dominant symbol for professional healthcare associations in the United States. One survey found that 62% of professional healthcare associations used the rod of Asclepius as their symbol.[3] The same survey found that 76% of commercial healthcare organizations used the Caduceus symbol. The author of the study suggests the difference exists because professional associations are more likely to have a historical understanding of the two symbols, whereas commercial organizations are more likely to be concerned with the visual impact a symbol will have in selling their products.[3]
The long-standing and abundantly attested historical associations of the caduceus with commerce has occasioned significant criticism of its use in a medical context. Many medical professionals argue that the Rod of Asclepius better represents the field of medicine and should be used instead.[4]
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. As spokesman for the gods, he not only brought peace on earth (occasionally even the peace of death), but his silver-tongued eloquence could always make the worse appear the better cause.[5] 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? As conductor of the dead to their subterranean abode, his emblem would seem more appropriate on a hearse than on a physician's car.
— Stuart L. Tyson, "The Caduceus", in The Scientific Monthly in 1932[6]
References
- ^ F.H. Garrison, "The Use of the Caduceus in the Insignia of the Army Medical Officer", in Bull. Med. Lib. Assoc. IX (1919-20), 13-16
- ^ Engle, Bernice (Dec 1929). "The Use of Mercury's Caduceus as a Medical Emblem"". The Classical Journal. 25 (1): 205.
- ^ a b Friedlander, Walter J (1992). The Golden Wand of Medicine: A History of the Caduceus symbol in medicine. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-28023-1.
- ^ Bohigian, George (2019). "The Caduceus vs. Staff of Aesculapius - One Snake or Two?". Missouri Medicine. 116 (6): 476–477.
"The Staff of Aesculapius has represented medicine since 800 BCE and most authorities support its use as the symbol of medicine
- ^ An allusion to John Milton's description of Belial in Paradise Lost II.113-114.
- ^ Tyson, Stuart L (1932). "The Caduceus". Scientific Monthly. 34 (6): 495.
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