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CREATURES of mystery 
ancients having observed that serpents conjoin in the double 
circular but erect form as in Aesculapius’s rod.” 
The pair of serpents in the caduceus is usually in close oppo¬ 
sition, with the heads facing each other, though at times we 
find them turned outward. The stick or rod around which they 
are entwined shows a vase-like or bulbous top. 
The explanation offered by writers, insofar as any is offered, 
as to the origin of the caduceus and especially the use of the 
entwining serpents in such close proximity, so far as we have 
been able to learn from history, coincides with the conclusion 
long ago reached by the writer. Of course, we have no way of 
knowing with scientific certainty, and cannot offer such proof 
as some might demand, but we will, with due apologies, offer 
the following, our belief, as to where these people of ancient 
days got their idea. We have heretofore related the story of 
the hunter who found two rattlers battling each other. The 
mid-section of their bodies were closely entwined, the upper 
and lower sections being free. The lower section of each being 
flattened and formed into a question mark was utilized as a 
base upon which to stand. They were facing each other, as in 
the caduceus, beating each other with their heads. Now, in 
the early age of the world, when almost the entire earth was 
given over to forests and jungles, when animal life was so 
abundant, it is evident, also, that reptile life must also have 
been exceedingly plentiful. Because of the very nature of such 
circumstances man must have, whether he willed it or not, 
lived as close neighbors to all these creatures, thereby having 
better opportunities than we of today of observing their man¬ 
ner of living. No doubt they observed reptiles battling each 
other as in the manner described above, and it is but reasonable 
that such observation provided the inspiration for these an¬ 
cient artists, giving us the modern caduceus. 
In substantiation of the foregoing, we invite the attention 
of the reader to what Forlong has to say in his “Rivers of 
Life” as to the origin of the caduceus. He says in plain lan¬ 
guage that the ancients got their idea of the form they gave 
the caduceus from observing the serpents themselves. After 
all, and in their final analysis, our concepts are and in fact must 
