Caduceus as a symbol of medicine significance of both symbols. This has occasioned impassioned remarks by those frustrated with the continuing confusion. It has been observed that the caduceus is particularly inappropriate for use as a medical symbol due to its long associations with the Greek god Hermes, who was patron of commerce and traders as well as thieves, liars, and gamblers. On the other hand, it has also been remarked – not without considerable irony – that commercial aims in medicine, especially in the United States of America, make the caduceus "an appropriate symbol", at least for some physicians. Others are unapologetic about the association
Caduceus as a symbol of medicine documented mistakes, misunderstandings and confusion. Before the ancient Romans and Greeks (about 2612 BCE), older representations from Syria and India of sticks and animals looking like serpents or worms are interpreted as a direct representation of traditional treatment of "dracunculiasis", the Guinea worm disease. While there is ample historical evidence of the use of the caduceus, or herald's staff, to represent Hermes or Mercury (and by extension commerce and negotiation), early evidence of any symbolic association between the caduceus and medicine or medical practice is scarce and ambiguous. It is likely linked to the alchemical "universal solvent", Azoth, the symbol