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The caduceus is the traditional symbol of Hermes and features two snakes winding around an often winged staff. It is often mistakenly used as a symbol of medicine instead of the Rod of Asclepius, especially in the United States. The two-snake caduceus design has ancient and consistent associations with trade, eloquence, trickery, and negotiation. Tangential association of the caduceus with medicine has occurred through the ages, where it was sometimes associated with alchemy and wisdom. The modern use of the caduceus as a symbol of medicine became established in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century as a result of documented mistakes, misunderstandings and confusion. ==Early use in a possible medical context== While there is ample historical evidence of the use of the caduceus, or herald's staff, to represent Hermes or Mercury (and by extension commerce and negotiation), early evidence of any symbolic association between the caduceus and medicine or medical practice is scarce and ambiguous. It is likely linked to the alchemical "Universal Solvent", Azoth, the symbol of which was the caduceus. The Guildhall Museum in London holds a 3rd-century oculist's seal with caduceus symbols both top and bottom. The seal was apparently used to mark preparations of eye medicine. It is believed likely that rather than being evidence of a medical association ''per se'', this is rather an allusion to the words of the Greek poet Homer who described the caduceus as "possessing the ability to charm the eyes of men", which of course relates to the business of an oculist.〔 Walter Friedlander proposed that early association of the caduceus with medicine might have derived from the association of Hermes Trismegistus ("Thrice-Great Hermes") with early chemistry and medicine as aspects of alchemy as an esoteric practice. He notes however, that "although these various factors may link Hermes/Mercury, along with his caduceus, with alchemical medicine, they may just as well link all the other non-medical aspects of alchemy with Hermes/Mercury and the caduceus."〔 Beginning with the 16th century there is limited evidence of the use of the caduceus in what is arguably a medical context. However, this evidence is also ambiguous. In some cases it is clear that the caduceus symbolized wisdom, without any specific medical connotations.〔 The caduceus appears in a general medical context in the printer's device used by the Swiss medical printer Johann Frobenius (1460–1527), who depicted the staff entwined with serpents and surmounted by a dove, with a biblical epigraph in Greek, "Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves" (Matthew 10:16, here in the KJV translation),〔 in keeping with the connotations of the caduceus as a symbol of messengers and publishers based on the association of Hermes or Mercury with eloquence and negotiation. Friedlander observed that Frobenius could hardly be considered a medical printer, as had previously been asserted, noting that in a review of 257 of the works bearing this printer's device only one was related to medicine. Similar use of the caduceus in printers' marks continues to the present day, with companies including F. A. Davis Company still using the symbol as an element of their insignia. There are a few other examples of use in this period. It may have been used as a symbol by Sir William Butts, physician to Henry VIII.〔 Similarly, physician John Caius, founder of Caius College, Cambridge, and at the time President of the Royal College of Physicians, during official visits to his eponymous college, had carried before him a silver caduceus on a cushion, and later presented this artefact to the college, where it remains in the College's possession.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=John Caius )〕 This use was adduced by the medical historian (and primary apologist for the use of the caduceus in a medical context) Fielding Garrison to support his argument that the caduceus was used as a symbol of medicine as far back as the 16th Century. However, as Walter Friedlander noted, "what Caius used was a non-specific herald's wand, rather than the caduceus of Hermes." In support of this assertion he quotes Caius's own words on why he chose a herald's wand as a symbol, making it clear that he chose it as a symbol of prudence.〔 This same passage was also earlier referenced by Engle in refuting Garrison's claim. Engle and Friedlander are not the only ones to have noted that the use of the Caduceus by Caius had nothing to do with supposed medical symbolism; as indicated in a publication produced by the Royal College of Physicians itself: "() by introducing the caduceus into the ceremony of the College of Physicians, Caius unintentionally added to the confusion between the two emblems for later times, when few people understand the visual signs with which he was so familiar." In support of the idea that the caduceus had a long-standing association with medicine, Garrison also mentioned the fact that the English medical printer Churchill used the symbol as a printer's device, beginning some time around 1844. Friedlander has examined this subject in detail, and shows that Churchill was well aware that the rod of Asclepius was the accepted symbol of medicine. He is, it seems, inclined to think that the adoption of the caduceus in this context probably had something to do with the relation between publishing and the role of Mercury as a messenger and scribe. He notes, however In any case, in Great Britain, as late as 1854, the distinction between the rod of Asclepius and the caduceus as symbols of two very different professions was apparently still quite clear. In his article ''On Tradesmen's Signs of London'' A.H. Burkitt notes that among the very old symbols still used in London at that time, which were based on associations between pagan gods and professions, "we find Mercury, or his ''caduceus'', appropriate in trade, as indicating expedition. ''Esculapius'', his ''Serpent and staff'', or his ''cock'', for professors of the healing art" 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Caduceus as a symbol of medicine」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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