What's that thing called?

[Rainy Night]

The symbol that you see at a doctor's office? It's like a snake or two snakes curled around a staff... is there a name for that?

[Julie Worth]

It's the staff of Aesculapius.
Or maybe the staff of Hermes?

[dpaterso]

The cadac-something, dammit, can't even pronounce it, gotta look it up...

I searched Google (boo, hiss, cheat) for: medical symbol snakes entwined

Loads of links on Caduceus and the Staff of Asclepius.

I'm impressed with myself just for remembering cadac-something, some neurons must still be firing in the old brain.

-Derek
-> * (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57) <- Click on this magic star to be transported to my website. Ruby slippers optional.
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I'll bet any quantum mechanic in the service would give the rest of his life to fool around with this gadget.

[Joe Calabrese]

AMA Symbols

The AMA's logo features a serpent wrapped around a staff - the symbol of Aesculapius, the Greek god of medicine. It is a traditional symbol of medicine used by many medical organisations the world over.

Serpents had a reputation for wisdom and were believed to have had the power of rejuvenation. The serpent and staff also appears on the AMA's coat of arms.

The AMA's motto - pro genere human concordes - means "united for humanity".

[Rainy Night]

Thanks, was exactly what I was looking for.

I knew I'd find the answer here.

[scarletpeaches]

They're all wrong. It's called a snakeosaurus and it represents the Roman gods of board games, Serpenticus and Laddericus. Duh. Everyone knows that. :)

[dpaterso]

You sure you didn't steal that line from Oor Wullie?

-Derek
-> * (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57) <- Click on this magic star to be transported to my website. Ruby slippers optional.
________________________________________________
"Where did you learn to fight with furniture?"
"On the playing fields of Eton!"

[Writer1]

It's called a "cadusis".

[veinglory]

The Caduceus of Mercury (Roman) or Karykeion of Hermes (Greek)

http://drblayney.com/images/caduceus.gif

[Mac H.]

It's interesting to see how mythologies intersect.

Hebrew mythology has a similar symbol - a bronze snake on a staff being used as a magical cure for snake bites. (See Numbers 21:7-9 for details)

For a fascinating discussion (including the one snake .v. two debate) see
http://drblayney.com/Asclepius.html

Mac.

[PeeDee]

The myth goes (if myne brane iz working) that Hermes was walking down the beach with staff in hand, when he came upon two serpents fighting each other. He touched them with his staff and they coiled around it.


...er....don't remember why they did this, or what became of it. Honestly, it's late and my mythology books are two rooms, four sleeping cats, and one sleeping wife away. So Google will probably best the brain of Pete "Cliff Claven" Tzinski on this groggy night.

(World's Most Useless Post.) :)