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| Pamela Hsieh Rehab Revolution |
All right, so even though rehab revolution is not meant to be an academic resource, I am by nature an academic and artistic person. And because I want to transition all the stock photos I've put up on this site so far into photos and drawings of my own (knowing what this country has come to in the world of copyright and lawsuits), I decided to start with what I used to refer to always, generically, as "the medical symbol." You may for now refer to it at the bottom of the righthand sidebar on the site as follows:
Because I'd just found this picture randomly on Google Image search, I thought it would be a good idea to come up with my own version of this by drawing it out by hand -- and out of my incessant curiosity, after sketching four different renditions of it, I decided to look up the semiotics of the symbol.Apparently, we here in North America have had it wrong all along! This symbol is called the caduceus and has obvious Greek [er, mythological] roots, but interestingly enough was linked to Hermes rather than Hippocrates and carried connotations of some pretty shady behaviors. Now, admittedly, my source is Wikipedia, which university professors of all subjects will shun as a valid resource -- but check out the lengthy list of references in the article. And the following snippet:
Seems pretty legit to me. And credible, given everyday occurrences of similar errors. (I went through similar upset when I found out orange roughy was unanimously discouraged by all safe-fish guides due to mercury content and environmental damage.) I admit to being highly disappointed and horrifed, yet relieved, to find this out, because if I were to ever get a tattoo, it would have been the caduceus!
"The caduceus is sometimes used as a symbol for medicine or doctors (instead of the rod of Asclepius) even though the symbol has no connection with Hippocrates and any association with healing arts is something of a stretch; as the symbol of the god Hermes, its singularly inappropriate connotations of theft, deception, and death, as well as the confusion of commerce and medicine in a single symbol, have provided fodder for academic humor."
Anyway, the "true" medical symbol is called the rod of Asclepius, used in Canada and even the American Medical Association, and is simply a rod with a single snake winding up its length.I find this symbol less appealing and despite the AMA's sprucing it up to look more exciting, choose to honor the old, incorrect symbol, for this site. So if any academics are out there sneering and jeering at my old-school winged staff, you now know that it's my eye for aesthetics that made me do it. (Even if it annoys me to know the truth.)
See the original article:
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