Deciphering the veterinary symbol | Pet Peeves
Most of us barely glance at the symbol for human medicine, let alone veterinary medicine. Without looking, what do you picture? I bet it is a staff with two snakes. It may or may not have wings at the top. We take for granted the rod-and-snake symbol without a thought. Have you ever noticed the same symbol is seen on businesses of commerce such as banks?
I had to stop and confront that question recently. Why is it seen both on banks and in medicine, and why did it sometimes look like two snakes on a staff with wings and sometimes one snake? I had to admit I did not know the answer. In fact, I was not even aware that it was used as a banking symbol.
So, off I went to research the topic. Of course, research today involves the computer, Google and other search engines. The result of my research is very interesting. The symbols for commerce and banking and the symbols for medicine are very similar and easily confused. In fact, at various times, the medical community and the veterinary community have improperly used the staff with two snakes and wings when the appropriate symbol would have been the staff with one snake and no wings.
To get the symbols straight, one must go back to Greek mythology. Hermes was the Greek god who eventually, in Roman times, was known as Mercury. He was the patron of commerce and traders as well as thieves, heralds and orators. Hermes (Mercury) carried a staff that had two snakes coiled around it, and often had wings at the top of the staff. It was known as the caduceus.
A totally different Greek god, a lesser god who was not as well-known as Hermes, was Asclepius. He was the son of Apollo and the pupil of the centaur Chiron. Asclepius was known as the Greek god of healing. He also had a symbolic staff; his staff having just one snake coiled around it and no wings associated with it.
Interestingly, the first logo that the United States Veterinary Medical Association adopted in 1863 was the image of the centaur Chiron. The first American Veterinary Medical Association logo showed Chiron holding a scroll and standing above the Latin phrase “non nobis solum,” meaning “not for us alone.” I think that was a pretty cool symbol.
The original logo was erroneously replaced in the 1920s by the caduceus of Hermes, which was not an unusual mistake. Apparently the caduceus appeared on the Army hospital chevrons of the 1800s and also was formally adopted by the Medical Department of the United States Army in 1902.
The AVMA house of delegates voted in 1970 to replace the symbol with the staff of Asclepius because they realized that it more correctly represented medicine since Asclepius was considered the god of healing. It is still used today.
And so, we have our answer. Banks and other businesses of commerce will use the caduceus correctly because of the connection to Hermes, who represented the fields of commerce and trade. Veterinary medicine and human medicine will use the rod of Asclepius, who was the Greek god of healing.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Deciphering the veterinary symbol | Pet Peeves
