THE ORIGIN, SYMBOLISM, AND MODERN USE 
OF THE CADUCEUS 
It is a singular fact that one of the leading ideas connected 
with the serpent is in relation to health, the idea of healing 
probably having arisen from the primitive recognition of the 
serpent as a symbol of life. When we first meet with serpent 
worship, either in the wilderness of Sinai, the groves of Epi- 
daurus, or in the Samartian huts, the serpent is always the 
bringer of health and good fortune. The spirit which in an¬ 
cient Egypt presided over households was the asp of Ranno, 
the snake-head goddess who is represented as nursing the 
young princess. (In this connection it might profit the reader 
to refer to Numbers 21*6-9 and 2 Kings 18:4 having to do 
with a somewhat parallel incident in Sacred History.) The 
record shows that this brazen serpent was carefully preserved 
by the Israelites, and that they either lapsed into or set up 
serpent worship, which they probably learned in Egypt. For 
such reason, King Hezekiah, some 500 years later, had it 
destroyed. Those who are inclined to view this incident in such 
light may accept it as proving that the old Israelites looked 
upon the serpent as the bringer of health, since to look upon 
the brazen serpent would restore health to those who had been 
bitten by the serpents in the wilderness. The sojourn of the 
Israelites in Egypt doubtless brought them in contact with ser¬ 
pent worship, and it is not impossible that they engaged in it 
to some extent. However, we cannot easily reconcile this view 
with what we must believe was Moses’ attitude toward ser¬ 
pent worship. It would prove more profitable, and doubtless 
lead one nearer the truth if studied in connection with another 
incident in Bible history—that of Aaron setting up the golden 
calf for the people while Moses was absent in the Mount of 
Sinai. 
That the idea of health was intimately associated with the 
serpent is shown by the crown formed of the asp, or sacred 
Thermuthis, having been given particularly to Isis, the goddess 
of life and healing. It was also the symbol of other deities with 
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