THE COLLEGE BADGE AND ITS MEANING
The College moved into its present premises in 2014, and the new badge was introduced at that time.
The shield indicates that knowledge is our best defence, and we protect our patients by application of that knowledge.
The device upon the shield is a modern depiction of the Aesculapian staff—a single snake around a cedar pole. This is the correct symbol for all things medical.
Asclepius is known to have been a gifted Greek physician working around 1200 BC that the Romans deified and re-named Aesculapius – god of healing. He is depicted as bare-chested, with a cedar staff and a single snake twined around it. He is recounted in Greek mythology as having had three daughters, Meditrina, Hygeia, and Panacea, and to have been taught his surgical skills by Chiron, the Centaur. The old name for surgery is Chirurgicorum which arises from this and could be the real source of the word ‘chiropody’ – surgery of the foot. The oft-quoted assertion that chiropody arises from the Greek word for hand ‘cheir’ seems somewhat less likely.
Interestingly, at least one organisation that represents Podiatrists and teaches Foot Health Practitioners employs the caduceus in their badge. This is the winged staff of Hermes (Mercury – ‘quick-silver’) – which depicts two snakes around a winged baton.
From Wikipedia:
‘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.’
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Symbols, signs, badges and trademarks have a considerable history – they told the public what a costermonger, vintner, haberdasher, pawnbroker and a thousand other traders did, long before logos and icons were taken up by modern information technology. People read symbols and signs long before they learned to read, if indeed they ever did learn to read. They are still important, and it is important that they do not mislead.
The origin of many currently used and recognized symbols is often rooted in history. The symbolism and its value remain although the depiction may well be modern. The Aesculapian staff quite properly projects and represents our values. The Aesculapian staff and snake feature in the badges and logos of many medically orientated organisations…