Why is the snake a symbol of medicine
The History of the Snake Staff Symbol & Why its on Ambulances
you're dead well not yet but you're
dying quick call 9-1-1 need an ambulance
oh thank god the ambulance is here wait
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why does an ambulance have a symbol from
alchemy on it hmm
what do you mean now's not the time for
that just because you're bleeding
profusely doesn't mean it's not time for
learning so let's learn
[Music]
welcome to hands off University where we
explain everything everything we feel
like at the moment that is and why do
some ambulances and hospitals have a
snake on a pole sometimes two snakes on
a wing into pole well the intro and
simulated that it originated from
alchemy but that is not 100% true rather
Greek alchemy and mythology adopted and
advanced the symbol and its use to the
point where it's just as important to
the origin but not the whole story so
what is the whole story well it dates
back to the biblical account of Moses
so with God's blessing Moses was all hey
Pharaoh could you do me a favor and let
my people go it would really mean a lot
to me man also to God God would like it
a bunch and then use a bunch of frogs
and death and stuff to convince him and
after freeing the slaves they began
their journey through the desert and a
lot of the slaves were ungrateful
because now they are in a desert and
nobody likes deserts especially before
air-conditioning but regardless God
didn't like their lack of appreciation
for his frogs and death and stuff that
got them out so he punished them with
venomous snakes as any loving parent
would really so now like everyone in the
camp is just dying miserably on the
floor and a bunch of them did start
feeling pretty guilty so God and Moses
have mercy and with God's blessing Moses
made a bronze snake wrapped around a
staff and everyone who looked up at the
staff would be healed
so obviously snake staff equals antidote
so today snake staff equals all medical
care but that's jumping over a lot of
really cool history like jumping forward
to the ancient Greeks there is the rod
of a sips sent to the rod of a seppius
which is as you guessed a rod with a
snake wrapped around it likely inspired
by the biblical tale of Moses this was
the rod from the Greek god a slippiest
hoping uh pronouncing that wrong
regardless the deity of healing and
medicine so again the reason it's
associated with hospitals and health is
pretty clear but the symbolism the
Greeks applied to this naked staff is
pretty awesome too
after all snakes shed their skin which
in a way read
use them and rejuvenates them just like
if you were to be healed from a sickness
he would be rejuvenated but it goes even
deeper than that
the snake reflects the dual nature of
the physician the ancient doctors
responsibilities were both to deal with
healing the living means taking care of
the dead plus snakes symbolized the
ambiguity of medicine as a whole back
then after all ancient humans were
pretty stupid well I mean they were a
lot smarter than people these days give
him credit for but they were still
stupid at least at least in the field of
medicine so more than half of the time
the doctors had no idea what was going
on they would give you a medicine not
knowing if it would help or hinder hey
it may even kill you and that's why the
Greek word for medicine pharmacon is
also the Greek word for poison pharmacon
thus the snake symbolism continues to
work perfectly because snake venom can
kill you but snake venom was also a
super common medicine back then it
pretty much summarizes the entire field
of ancient doctoring and that's way cool
plus in honor of their God slippiest
many dormitories for the ill and injured
would be littered with ask Allah peon a
school of pain a school a peon a school
a peon snakes which are yes named after
that God and yes were non-venomous so
not really all that scary thank goodness
now at first you might think ah oh man
geez snakes are terrifying and they're
so unsanitary why would they do that but
actually whether the ancient dudes knew
it or not the snakes did help
significantly you know what ancient
cities are full of mice and rats
you know what's significantly more
unsanitary than snakes mice and rats and
what are mice and rats scared of
snakes by filling these sick Bay's with
snakes they kept the mice and rats away
which built people heal unless they were
scared of snakes but like these were the
non-venomous ones at this point people
were probably used to snakes because
like all of the doctor offices are
filled with them so in a way because all
of the sick Bay's were filled with
snakes snakes became even more heavily
associated with healthcare amongst the
populace but where does the alchemy come
in come on and what about that double
snake and staff with wings where's that
one well to answer both questions at the
same time also in ancient Greece we have
Hermes a son of Zeus and the second
youngest of the Gods he's a messenger
and has wings on his feets
he also has wings on his staff which
also has two snakes and he's also kind
of a jerk a trickster who loves messing
with people and is often associated with
gamblers cheaters and thieves so rightly
so his staff became a symbol for the
medical industry in the United States in
1902 all right all right I left out some
details there but the joke was too good
to pass up but really Hermes himself had
little to nothing to do with medicine
rather he was well known for his speed
and assistance to travelers so the
medical branch of the u.s. military
adopted the symbol in the context of
that speed treating wounded soldiers on
the battlefield but there is some more
context that the designers of the
medical corps badge may or may not have
known it's ambiguous history regarding
alchemy so Roman mythology is pretty
much Greek mythology with a bunch of
gastric PSA's and they took the great
account of Hermes and their own account
of the god mercury and decided they were
the same God so they're symbols and
stories merged this is where the
confusion begins so a lot as in most
symbols and alchemy are the same as
Roman and Greek symbols and the symbol
for mercury the element is this little
dingle but in alchemy mercury is one of
the three base elements the most
important LM
for life the others being salt and
sulfur but mercury ruled over the other
two it's the most important and these
three elements were the main ingredients
not only for the Philosopher's Stone but
also for the elixir of life the supposed
to cure to all diseases and reverser of
ages and in many alchemical
illustrations this staff of mercury and
even Hermes himself would be
symbolically used as a key piece to this
creation of this elixir and also of the
Philosopher's Stone and that stone is
also said to be able to cure anything
because you would get infinite wisdom
and control over as off.not this channel
actual as off which I guess would
include this channel since as off is
basically the spiritual power of
literally everything interestingly the
modern rear eyes of alchemy started in
the 1800s and being that this US Medical
Corps design was made in 1902 it's very
plausible someone on the design team was
dabbling into some magic II stuff after
all there was literally nothing else to
do back then so either way both symbols
work well as both have loads of context
and symbolism with medicine and stuff so
the next time you're hospitalized give
the nurse a neato little history lesson
this kind of stuff fascinates a lot of
people so also you should try this video
that'd be pretty swell so until the next
lesson learn on and thanks for joining
as author University
