Asclepius

Why are hospitals using the wrong logo?

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• published: 02 Apr 2013
• views: 7018

Hit like to help the channel out. Subscribe for more. ----- What's the difference between Caduceus, and Asclepius? Find out in a minute. The Rod of Asclepius gets its name from the god of healing. He helped many ancient temples where you give what you can in return for sleeping in the holiest spot in the temple called Abaton. Then, based on your dream, the priest give you medicine. This pharmakon could cure people but sometimes kill them too. That's where the snake comes in. It is thought of as a symbol for life and death. It could also mean renewal or attention given to patients. Non venomous snakes usually litter the temple floor but for a very long time, it wasn't combined with the staff which could mean resurrection or healing. It supports people like medicine does. What else could the symbol mean though? It could be form a fiery serpent around a rod in the book of Numbers, or it could be the Guinea Worm which lives in people's skin and causes a burning blister. Then the person soothes their feet in water where the worm releases its larva. The larvae grow up and is then accidentally consumed by more people and the cycle starts anew. A common treatment is to wait until the worm emerges, then wrap a match stick around it but don't yank it out! Through a few days coil the worm on the stick until it's all gone. Yes, this is how it was done in the good ol' days... and also these days. Some of you might be wondering what it looks like, and after you see it, you'd wish you didn't. Here's a bunch of logos that use the serpent. Some of them aren't the quite rod of Asclepius but is instead the Rod of Hermes called caduceus. Hermes is the god market place. Caduceus is the symbol for commerce, theft, and deception. How were the two mixed up? The army in 1850s had hospital stewards that mistakenly used Caduceus in their chevron. Then in 1871 the Surgeon General decided to just stick with it. In 1902, this logo was made by the U.S. Army Medical Corps. and people copied it ever since. Asclepius is more likely to appear professional medical associations because they probably know better while commercial health businesses use Caduceus because it looks better.