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The Medical University of Ohio Seal
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Approved by the Medical University of Ohio Board of Trustees
in 1971, the MUO seal was created by Toledo designer Paul
Sullivan.
In its official full-color rendition, the stem, leaves and borders are green,
the left quarter-sphere is gold; the right quarter-sphere is red; and the serpent
and lettering are rendered in black.
Dark green is the color of medicine in academic circles, red is for blood, and
gold is for urine, the specimens studied since antiquity. At the top of the
staff, the three leaves symbolize education, research and community service,
MUO's three missions.
Over a two-year period, a seven-member academic heralding committee consisting
of Glidden L. Brooks, M.D., MUO's first president; Robert Page, M.D., the first
dean of the College of Medicine; Liberato J.A. DiDio, M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc., MUO's
first faculty member; William Bender, the first director of public relations;
Ronald L. Watterson, M.L.S., MUO's first librarian, and two members of the Toledo
Art Museum staff -- Mr. Otto Wittman and Mr. Charles Guenther -- screened about
100 sketches, drawings and designs from various artists and designers before
narrowing the selection down to a handful of possibilities.
Further screening of various renditions of the symbol --
round, squat, oval; leaves pointed, leaves rounded, different color combinations
-- resulted in the emblem finally adopted by trustees.
Its center is a modernized version of the staff of
Aesculapius entwined by the single serpent, a true symbol of medicine. Studies
by the committee revealed that the double serpent and wings, the caduceus, which
is often used as a symbol of medicine, is, in fact, a distortion of the original.
The word caduceus comes from the Greek word meaning a "herald's wand" or "staff."
The symbol itself is a very old one. It was used in India in ancient times and
has also been traced to early Mesopotamia.
In ancient Greece, the caduceus was the wand of Mercury,
messenger of the gods and god of dreams, magic and trade. Throughout the centuries,
it appeared on printers' signs, on merchant ships and as an emblem of secret
societies. It was finally chosen as a medical symbol in England at the time
of King Henry VIII, in the 16th century. The serpent in ancient times meant
wisdom, health and long life. It was considered to be the most powerful symbol
against disease because the serpent seems to renew itself each time it grows
a new skin and sheds its old one. The staff of Aesculapius, ancient Greek and
Roman God of healing, is symbolized by a staff entwined by a single serpent
because Aesculapius was said to have been followed by a serpent as he went about
performing cures.
The staff of Aesculapius, transposed on the sign of
the United Nations, is the symbol of the World Health Organization.
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