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The Rod of Asclepius and the caduceus on memorials, and which of them actually means medicine.
Also known as: Snake on a staff on a grave, Doctor's symbol on a memorial
A snake on a staff marks a physician; two snakes and wings mark commerce and messengers. American usage confused the two in the early twentieth century and the error stuck, so a caduceus on a doctor's monument is common and still a mistake.
The caduceus — a winged staff with two snakes — is an attribute of Hermes and belongs to commerce, negotiation and messengers rather than to medicine. Its widespread use as a medical emblem in the United States follows an adoption by the US Army Medical Corps in 1902 and is generally treated as an error that became convention.
Both appear on doctors' monuments. One is the correct emblem and one is a well-established mistake, and Symbolwise records which is which rather than treating them as equivalent.
United States especially
Counting is the whole test: one snake and no wings is medicine, two snakes and wings is not.
A vertical staff with either one snake coiled around it and no wings, or two snakes twined around it beneath a pair of spread wings.
This record covers the medical emblems as they appear on monuments; the Rod of Asclepius has its own general page.
This record covers the memorial context in which the two emblems are confused.