The Serpent as a Symbol in Medical Science

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The Serpent as a Symbol in Medical Science

The modern conception of the relation between serpents and medical science is that, when a man sees snakes, he needs the services of a physician. The real connection between snakes and medicine is a historical one, however, and the reptile has been a symbol of the power of healing from earliest times. This idea is still typified by the presence of serpents on the emblems which symbolize modern medicine, as the knotted rod of Aesculapius and the caduceus of the army insignia.

In ancient civilizations, serpents were worshipped as gods. Evidences of ophiolatry, or serpent worship, have been found in the excavations among the ruins of ancient Egypt, Babylonia, Crete, Greece, and Peru. Modern Egyptians still regard snakes with something more than mere respect, and in India, Naga, the serpent and Guga, the snake god, have many followers to this day. Prominent in India, in the middle of the nineteenth century, was the Dahomey Cult of snake worshipers, whose counterpart on this side of the ocean is the Voodoo religion of Haiti.

Originally, the serpent was a representative of wealth, but in time it came to signify culture in general. It was famed for its shrewdness and was supposed to know of certain roots which could bring life to its dead. Since it changed its skin once a year, it was thought to do this to purify itself. In Syria and Palestine, serpents were associated with wells, springs, and rivers. Many of these aqueous

habitats of serpents were believed to possess medicinal properties and this fact, together with those others enumerated above, gradually produced the idea that serpents had healing power. Folk lore is replete with legends of cures effected by snakes, especially by grateful ones. Cadmus who, mythology relates, gave us the alphabet, was said to have been turned into a serpent in order that he might cure human ills.

Serpents seem to have played an important role in early Grecian medicine, as practically every statue of Aesculapius, the god of medicine, is adorned with such a one in some sort of graceful posture. Aesculapius was the son of Apollo and the father of Hygeia, the goddess of health, and also of Panakeia, whose name has come down to us in the English "Panacea." He derived his medical knowledge from Chiron, the Centaur, and not from his father, who is often called the god of medicine. It is probable that Aesculapius was a real human being, because the Greeks often deified those who conferred great benefits upon humanity, but the history of that period (about 1200 B. C.) is so involved with mythology that this point is not certain. In Homer's "Iliad," he is not mentioned as a god and Pindar, the poet, did not call him a god, though he was publicly deified in 430 B. C, in Athens. Hippocrates was supposed to be a lineal descendant of Aesculapius.

The significance of the serpents on the statues of Aesculapius is explained by the fact that they were then accepted as the symbols of the art of the physician. In some cases, they are vipers and in others of the non-poisonous type. When the snake was poisonous, it was often close to the hand of Aesculapius where a fatal bite could easily have been inflicted, but the master physician's countenance seems undisturbed and, possibly, the sculptor intended to convey the impression that even a snakebite could be cured by his art. In the statues of Hygeia, the serpent is frequently depicted as drinking from a saucer in her hand. It has been suggested that this act meant that, wise as was the serpent, he still could gain knowledge by imbibing from the cup of Aesculapius. A seated figure of Hygeia has been adopted as the emblem of the American Public Health Association.

The disciples of Aesculapius founded a number of temples in Greece and her colonies where they practised the healing art. In all of these places, reptiles were kept and tradition has it that, in time of great epidemics, Hygeia would emerge from the temple at Epidaurus and, by deftly waving the sacred serpent, would cause the pestilence to be dispelled. A serpent was sent from this temple to Rome to cure the plague. At one time, Aesculapius himself went from Epidaurus to the shrine at Sicyon in the form of a serpent. The temple of the earth goddess, Bona Dea, at Aventine, also contained a choice variety of snakes for medicinal purposes. Constantinople was protected by a serpent trophy taken from Delphi by the emperor Constantine.

The caduceus has been mentioned as the emblem of the United States army medical department. Just why this was adopted, is not known, although serpents form a part of it. The emblem is adopted from the magic wand of Apollo, who was the giver of life to the dead and conveyor of disembodied spirits to the lower regions. While traveling in Arcadia, he came upon two serpents engaged in mortal combat and separated them with his olive staff, which consequently became the symbol of peace. This staff was decorated with fillets of ribbons, but these were replaced by the serpents in a position of coitus, denoting reproduction and plenty. The Greek Apollo, or Hermes, corresponded to the Roman Mercury, messenger of the gods, and the wings on the staff were added as the sign of Mercury. The connection of medicine and mercury needs no elaboration here. Mercury was the god of commerce, and not of medicine, although Apollo has often been called a physician by the Greeks. The knotted rod of Aesculapius entwined with a serpent has often been urged as the only true symbol of medical science.

James A. Tobey.