West Virginia University School of Medicine - Pylon Yearbook (Morgantown, WV)

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The staff of Asklepios is the only true symbol of medicine. Asklepios, whose name was later changed by the Romans to Asclepius and Aesculapius, was a Greek physician, He so embodied the ideal attributes of a healer that, after his death, his countrymen spoke of him as a great departed hero. As frequently happened in Greek mythology, this exemplary healer later attained the status of a god. A cult began in Thessaly and tem- ples were erected to Asklepios in many parts of Greece, near healing springs or on high mountains. The practice of sleeping in these sanctuaries was very common, for it was supposed that the god wrought cures or prescribed remedies to the sick in their dreams. His cult was introduced to Rome in the third century before Christ to relieve a pesti- lence. Asklepios is usually represented in ancient sculpture and on cairns with a staff and a serpent coiled around it. The staff or rod, originally taken from a tree, symbolizes the mystery of plant growth. By representing the vegetable kingdom, the rod incorpor- ates the primeva I force of the earth and the imperishabi lity of life . With his rod , the divine physician was able to cure the sick and restore the life of the earth to them. The serpent, who lives in the earth, was thought to possess the reinvigorating energy of the earth and to be able to convey this energy to the sick. It therefore, along with the rod, stood for the life of the earth and its healing powers. The caduceus, a winged staff with intertwined serpents, is the magic wand of Hermes or Mercury, the messenger of the gods and the patron of business. During the Renaissance, Hermes became associated with alchemy. In the sixteenth and seven- teenth centuries, the fields of alchemy, chemistry, pharmacy and medicine were not well demarcated, and the fields overlapped to some extent. Now that Hermes had en- tered the fields of chemistry and pharmacy via alchemy, his symbol, the caduceus, came to be regarded as a medicopharmaceutical emblem. Thus the caduceus, the standard of the patron of business, does have a weak re- lationship to the field of medicine. However, it pales when compared with the staff of Asklepios as a symbol of the finest attributes o the medical profession.

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ADMINISTRATION John E. Jones, M.D Dean ft 1 Edward J. Van Liere, M.D. Dean Emeritus V - ' i itf Charles E . Andrews, M.D. Provost ¥ r A Thomas W. Mou, M.D. Dean, CAMC David Z . Morgan, M.D Associate Dean Don L. Arnwine President, CAMC Gene Budig, Ph.D President of WVU John A . Thomas, Ph.D Associate Dean r li Jm W.K.C. Morgan, M.D. Chief of Staff

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AMERICAN MEDICAL STUDENT ASSOCIATION m If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the proble AMSA sees the medical student as a valuable resource for the solution of today ' s complex health care problems. Our major goal is to educate and inform students about these problems and help them become a vital force in developing programs and policies that will improve the health care system for our patients and the medical profession. To develop physicians who are not only attuned to scientific medicine but to the art and humanism of medicine as well is our dream. Jim Comerci, President Ned Tiley, Vice President Rita Arbuckle, Med II representative, Tom Rey- nolds, Treasurer, Frances Stewart, Med I repre- sentative, and John Baker, Med I representative, Pat Neal, legislative coordinator, Sharon Lehman, secretary, Jeff Kugel, Al Mark Wertman, ISA News editor, and