The U.S Air Force Medical Service uses the Staff of Aesculapius with one snake. Navy Medical Corps still use the caduceus with the two snakes. McCulloch lamented the error, but did nothing to correct the error. In 1917, Lieutenant Colonel McCulloch, the librarian to the Surgeon General, discovered original documents showing that the coat of arms adopted by the USAMEDD a century earlier had displayed the Aesculapius and not the caduceus. This mistake did not go entirely unnoticed. Thus, on 17 July 1902, the “caduceus of gold” was adopted as the branch insignia of the USAMC. Forwood this time, his proposal was approved. However, Captain Reynolds was persistent and, later that year, he sent a second letter to the new Surgeon General, W.H. Sternberg, dismissed his request outright. In March 1902, when Captain Reynolds initially suggested the switch to the caduceus symbol, the Surgeon General, G.W.
2 Ironically, this mistake was nearly avoided. Thus, the adoption of the caduceus by the USAMC seems to have been simply a misunderstanding of classical mythologic iconography. Medical Associations in Asia, India, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Africa, and Scandinavia all share the Staff of Aesculapius. In fact, no other western medical military ser vice of that time displayed the caduceus they all used the Aesculapius symbol. His statement to the Surgeon General that the Medical Corps of “several foreign powers, notably the English” all displayed the caduceus was also erroneous. He recommended the combined use of the “cock of Aesculapius” and the caduceus. From Captain Reynold’s correspondence with the Surgeon General’s office, it is apparent that he was unaware of the distinction between the caduceus and Aesculapius.
#HERMES STAFF CODE#
In 1902, at the suggestion of an assistant surgeon, Captain Frederick Reynolds, a new uniform code was established, and the caduceus became a collar insignia for all personnel in the USAMC. The question to ask is how did the caduceus become popular so quickly in the United States? The role of the United States Army Medical Corps (USAMC) is crucial. Hopefully, most of you know the Hippocratic Oath begins with the words “I swear by Apollo, the physician, and by Aesculapius….” It was believed that Hippocrates was a direct descendant of Aesculapius. Hippocrates of Kos was a physician the father of Western Medicine, ca. Many patients suffering from sickness such as depression were put into a temple healing rooms containing snakes to shock them out of their stupor.
The snake also produced venoms which killed many parasites in the body. 5 The ancients looked on the snake as a symbol of health and healing because it could shed and regenerate its’s skin. Two wings and two snakes are the difference in the Caduceus (left) and the Staff of Aesculapius (right).
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