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From: llizard <llizard@iNOdirect.ca>
Subject: Re: Req: Aesculap (?)
Date: 1998/09/17
Message-ID: <36010AAE.992@iNOdirect.ca>#1/1
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In article <6toou7$6os$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>, ctobola@rrnet.com wrote:
> 
> In article <34b901cc.3278683@news.mindspring.com>,
> anonymous@respondtogroup.com (anon) wrote:
> >
> > On Sun, 11 Jan 1998 13:01:48 GMT, all creatures bowed their heads as
> > the Almighty Freddy spoke the following:
> >
> > :I�m looking for an Aesculap (???), i.e. a vertical staff with a snake
> > :curled around it, used as a symbol for medicine.
> >
> > That would be a CADUCEUS, and it's TWO snakes.
> 
> Sorry, Anon, but your correction is incorrect. The symbol for medicine uses
> one snake. See the discussion below (from sci.medicine.education) for more
> info. -Cloyster
> 
> ===================================================
> On 4 Apr 1998, BrewsterK wrote:
> > Paul A. Delaney wrote:
> >
> > > Enjoying Spring break recently by visiting the Smithsonian Museum of
> > > Art here in DC, I happened upon one of their more famous acquisitions,
> > > "The Feast of the Gods" by Giovanni Bellini, 1514.  Looking closely, I
> > > was surprised to see that one of them carries a Caduceus -- a staff
> > > with two intertwining serpents.
> > >
> > > Hmmmm....a little research revealed that the Caduceus is Mercury's
> > > magic wand -- Mercury is Zeus's Winged Messenger in Greek mythology
> > > (Hermes for the Romans).  Edith Hamilton writes in here tome
> > > "Mythology" that "of all the Gods, he was the shrewdest and most
> > > cunning;  in fact he was the Master Thief, who started upon his career
> > > before he was a day old...In odd contrast, he was also the solemn
> > > guide of the dead, the Divine Herald who led souls down to their last
> > > home."
> > >
> > > What an unfortunate symbol for physicians!!
> > >
> > > It seems only the AMA has it right, using the single-serpented staff
> > > of Asclepius (Greek) or Aesculapius (Roman), the son of Apollo and God
> > > of medicine and healing.
> > >
> > > How then, did the Caduceus come to denote medicine?
> >
> > The actual symbol for the medical community is the staff of Aesculapius.  The
> > Caduceus became associated with medicine during World War 1 when it was placed
> > on the doors of battlefield ambulances.  It this case I would imagine that it
> > was there to denote speed (mercury was the messenger of the gods denoted for
> > speed) and not healing.
> >
> >
> > Brewster
> > MS1--Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine
> > http://members.aol.com/brewsterk/home.html
> 
>         That's pretty close, as far as I know.
[snip]
>         The staff of Asklepios is entwined with only one snake.  The son of
> Apollo was considered the god of medicine by the Greeks and Romans.
>         I don't know if it's correct to say that one symbol is right and
> the other wrong to signify medicine, but now you can distinguish between
> the two and decide for yourself.  Godspeed.
> 
> --
> Mike
> (Classics @ SUNY Buffalo)
> http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~mjbrown

Bearing all this in mind, here is a caduceus I drew last year.
               _
       _____  ( )  _____
      vVVVVV\__|__/VVVVVv  
     vVVVVVVvvv|vvvVVVVVVv
    vVVVV      |      VVVVv
   vVVV   .=-< | >-=.  VVVv
   vVV   (____ |_____)  VVv
   v          (|)         v
              (|)
              (|) 
              (|)
              (|)
              '|`
  ejm          |

and here it is with one snake only.
               _
       _____  ( )  _____
      vVVVVV\__|__/VVVVVv  
     vVVVVVVvvv|vvvVVVVVVv
    vVVVV      |      VVVVv
   vVVV        | >=.   VVVv
   vVV         |____)   VVv
   v          (|          v
               |)
              (|  
               |)
              (| 
               |`
  ejm          |


and just guessing that the wings are something to do with Mercury, here
is one without the wings:

               _
              ( )
               |
               | >=.
               |____)
              (| 
               |)
              (|  
               |)
              (| 
               |`
  ejm          |


It seems to me that Joan made a much more elegant caduceus that can no
doubt be altered to become an Aesculap but I can't find it.


NOTE: I do not pick up my mail from the idirect address that you
see. If you are e-mailing me and hit the reply button, add an "e"
to "freent"; its absense is to stop the torment of automatic mailers.
--
llizard aka ejm
cq547@freene+.+oron+o.on.ca                                     ,^
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