East and West in conjunction we obtain a full outline of the mythology
of the ancients. It recognizes as the primary element of things two
independent principles of nature, the male and female, and these,
in characteristic union as the soul and body, constitute the Great
Hermaphrodite Deity, the one, the universe itself, consisting still
of the two separate elements of its composition, modified though
combined in one individual, of which all things are regarded but as
parts." In fact the characteristics of all pagan deities, male or
female, gradually mold into each other and at last into one or two;
for as William Jones has stated, it seems a well-founded opinion
that the entire list of gods and goddesses means only the powers of
nature, principally those of the sun, expressed in a variety of ways
with a multitude of fanciful names. The Creation is, in fact, human
rather than a divine product in this sense, that it was suggested to
the mind of man by the existence of things, while its method was,
at least at first, suggested by the operation of nature; thus man
saw the living bird emerge from the egg, after a certain period of
incubation, a phenomenon equivalent to actual creation as apprehended
by his simple mind. Incubation obviously then associated itself with
creation, and this fact will explain the universality with which the
egg was received as a symbol in the earlier systems of cosmogony. By
a similar process creation came to be symbolized in the form of a
phallus, and so Egyptians in their refinement of these ideas adopted
as their symbol of the great first cause a Scarabaeus, indicating the
great hermaphroditic unity, since they believed this insect to be both
male and female. They beautifully typified a part of this idea also
in the adoration which they paid to the water lily, or _Lotus_, so
generally regarded as sacred throughout the East. It is the sublime and
beautiful symbol which perpetually occurs in oriental mythology, and,
as Maurice has stated, not without substantial reason, for it is its
own beautiful progeny and contains a treasure of physical instruction.
The lotus flower grows in the water among broad leaves, while in its
center is formed a seed vessel shaped like a bell, punctured on the
top with small cavities in which its seeds develop; the openings into
the seed cells are too small to permit the seeds to escape when ripe,
consequently they absorb moisture and develop within the same, shooting
forth as new plants from the place where they originated; the bulb of
the vessel serving as a matrix which shall nourish them until they
are large enough to burst open and release themselves, after which
they take root wherever deposited. "The plant, therefore, being itself
productive of itself, vegetating from its own matrix, being fostered in
the earth, was naturally adopted as a symbol of the productive power
of the waters upon which the creative spirit of the Creator acted, in
giving life and vegetation to matter. We accordingly find it employed
in every part of the northern hemisphere where symbolical religion,
improperly called idolatry, existed."
Further exemplification of the same underlying principle is seen in the
fact that most all of the ancient deities were paired; thus we have
heaven and earth, sun and moon, fire and earth, father and mother, etc.
Faber says "The ancient pagans of almost every part of the globe were
wont to symbolize the world by an egg, hence this symbol is introduced
into the cosmogonies of nearly all nations, and there are few persons
even among those who have made mythology their study to whom the
mundane egg is not perfectly familiar; it is the emblem not only of
earth and life but also of the universe in its largest extent." In the
Island of Cyprus is still to be seen a gigantic egg-shaped vase which
is supposed to represent the mundane or Orphic egg. It is of stone,
measuring thirty feet in circumference, and has upon it a sculptured
bull, the emblem of productive energy. It is supposed to signify the
constellation of Taurus, whose rising was connected with the return of
the mystic re-invigorating principle.
The work of the Mound Builders in this country is generally and widely
known, still it is perhaps not so generally known how common upon this
continent was the general use of the serpent symbol. Their remains
are spread over the country from the sources of the Allegheny in N.
Y. state westward to Iowa and Nebraska, to a considerable extent
through the Mississippi Valley, and along the Susquehanna as far as
the Valley of Wyoming in Pennsylvania. They are found even along the
St. Lawrence River; they also line the shore of the Gulf from Florida
to Texas. That they were erected for other than defensive purposes
is most clear; without knowing exactly what was the government of
their builders the presumption is that it combined both the priestly
and civil functions, as obtained centuries ago in Mexico. The Great
Serpent Mound, already alluded to, had a length of at least 1,000 feet;
the outline was perfectly regular and the mouth was widely open as if
in the act of swallowing or ejecting an oval figure, also formed of
earth, whose longest diameter was one hundred and sixty feet. Again
near Granville, Ohio, occurs the form of an alligator in connection
with which was indubitable evidence of an altar. Near Tarlton, Ohio,
is another earth work in the form of a cross. There is every reason to
think that sacrifices were made upon the altars nearly always found in
connection with these mounds. Among the various animal effigies found
in Wisconsin, mounds in the form of a serpent are most frequently
met with, while circles enclosing a pentagon, or a mound with eight
radiating points, undoubtedly representing the sun, were also found.
There would seem in all these representations to be an unmistakable
reference to that form of early cosmogony in which every vivification
of the mundane egg constituted a real act of creation. In Japan this
conceptive egg is allegorically represented by a nest-egg shown
floating upon an expanse of water, against which a bulb is striking
with horns. The Sandwich Islanders have a tradition that a bird, which
with them is an emblem of deity, laid an egg upon the waters, which
burst of itself and thus produced the Islands. In Egypt, Kneph was
represented as a serpent emitting from his mouth an egg, from which
proceeds the divinity Phtha. In the Bible there is frequent reference
to seraphs; Se Ra Ph is the singular of seraphim, meaning, splendor,
fire or light. It is emblematic of the fiery sun, which under the name
of the Serpent Dragon was destroyed by the reformer Hezekiah; or, it
means, also, the serpent with wings and feet, as used to be represented
in funeral rituals.
Undoubtedly Abraham brought with him from Chaldea into lower Egypt
symbols of simple phallic deities. The reference in the Bible to
the Teraphim of Jacob's family reminds us that Terah was the name
of Abraham's father, and that he was a maker of images. Undoubtedly
the Teraphim were the same as the Seraphim; that is, were serpent
images and were the household charms of the Semitic worshippers of the
Sun-God, to whom the serpent was sacred. In Numbers, 21, the serpent
symbol of the Exodus is called a seraph; moreover when the people were
bitten by a fiery serpent Moses prayed for them, when Jehovah replied,
"Make them a fiery serpent, (literally seraph) and set it upon a pole,
and it shall come to pass that every one who is bitten when he looketh
upon it shall live." The exact significance of this healing figure of
the serpent is far to seek.
In this connection it must be remembered also, that among several of
the Semitic tongues the same root signifies both serpent and phallus,
which are both in effect solar emblems. Cronus of the ancient Orphic
theogony, probably identical with Hercules, was represented under the
mixed emblem of a lion and a serpent, or often as a serpent alone. He
was originally considered Supreme, as is shown from his being called
Il, which is the same as the Hebrew, El, which was, according to St.
Jerome, one of the ten names of God. Damascius in his life of Isidorus
mentions that Cronus was worshipped under the name of El. Brahm, Cronus
and Kneph each represented the mystical union of the reciprocal or
active and passive regenerative principles.
The Semitic Deity, Seth, was certainly a serpent god, and can be
identified with Saturn and with deities of other people. The common
name of God, _Eloah_, among the Hebrews and other Semites, goes back
into the earliest times; indeed Bryant goes so far as to say that El
was the original name of the Supreme deity among all the nations of the
East. He was the same as Cronus, who again was the primeval Saturn.
Thus Saturn and El were the same deity, and like Seth were symbolized
by the serpent.
On the western continent this great unity was equally recognized; in
Mexico as Teotl, in Peru as Varicocha or the Soul of the Universe, in
Central America and Yucatan as Stunah Ku, or God of Gods. The mundane
egg was everywhere received as the symbol of the original, passive,
unorganized formless nature, and later became associated with other
symbols referring to the creative force or vitalizing influence, which
was often represented in emblem by a bull. In the Aztec Pantheon all
the other gods and goddesses were practically modified impersonations
of these two principles. In the simpler mythology of Peru these
principles took the form of the Sun, and the Moon his wife. Among the
ruins of Uxmal are two long massive walls of stone thirty feet thick,
whose inner sides are embellished with sculpture containing fragments
of colossal entwined serpents which run the whole length of the walls;
in the center of the wall was a great stone ring.
Among the annals of the Mexicans the woman whose name old Spanish
writers translated "The woman of our Fish" is always represented as
accompanied by a great male serpent. This serpent is the Sun-God, the
principal deity of the Mexican Pantheon, while the name which they give
to the goddess mother of primitive man signifies "Woman of the Serpent."
Inseparably connected with the serpent as a phallic emblem are also
the pyramids, and, as is well known, pyramids abound in Mexico and
Central America. As Humboldt years ago observed pyramids existed
through Mexico, in the forests of Papantha at a short distance above
sea-level; on the plains of Cholula and of Teotihuacan, and at an
elevation which exceeds those of the passes of the Alps. In most widely
different nations, in climates most different, man seems to have
adopted the same style of construction, the same ornaments, the same
customs, and to have placed himself under the government of the same
political institutions. Mayer describing one of his trips says, "I
constantly saw serpents in the city of Mexico, carved in stone and in
the various collections of antiquities." The symbolic feathered serpent
was by no means peculiar to Mexico and Yucatan. Squier encountered
it in Nicaragua on the summits of volcanic ridges; even among our
historic Indian tribes, for example among the Lenni Lenape, they called
the rattlesnake "grandfather," and made offerings of tobacco to it.
Furthermore in most of the Indian traditions of the Manitou the great
serpent figures most conspicuously.
It has been often remarked that every feature of the religion of the
new world discovered by Cortez and Pizarro indicates a common origin
for the superstitions of both continents, for we have the same worship
of the sun, the same pyramidal monuments, and the same universal
veneration of the serpent. Thus it will be seen that the serpent symbol
had a wide acceptance upon this continent as well as the other, and
among the uncivilized and semi-barbaric races; that it entered widely
into all symbolic representation with an almost universal significance.
Perhaps the latest evidences of the persistence of this belief may be
seen in the tradition ascribing to St. Patrick, the credit of having
driven all the serpents from Irish soil; or in the perpetuation of
rites, festivals and representations whose obsolete origin is now
forgotten. For instance the annual May-day festival, scarcely yet
discontinued, is certainly of this origin, yet few if any of those who
participate in it are aware that it is only the perpetuation of the
vernal solar festival of Baal, and that the garlanded May-pole was
anciently a phallic emblem. Among men of my own craft the traditions
of Aesculapius are familiar. Aesculapius is, however, inseparably
connected with the serpent myth and in statues and pictures he is
almost always represented in connection with a serpent. Thus he is seen
with the Caduceus or the winged wand entwined by two serpents, or,
sometimes with serpents' bodies wound around his own; but rarely ever
without some serpent emblem. Moreover the Caduceus is identical with
the simple figure of the Cross by which its inventor, Thoth, is said to
have symbolized the four elements proceeding from a common center. In
connection with the Cross it is interesting also that in many places in
the East serpent worship was not immediately destroyed by the advent of
Christianity. The Gnostics for example, among Christian sects, united
it with the religion of the Cross, as might be shown by many quotations
from religious writers. The serpent clinging to the Cross was used as
a symbol of Christ, and a form of Christian serpent worship was for
a long time in vogue among many beside the professed Ophites. In the
celebration of the Bacchic mysteries the mystery of religion, as usual
throughout the world, was concealed in a chest or box. The Israelites
had their sacred Ark, and every nation has had some sacred receptacle
for holy things and symbols. The worshippers of Bacchus carried in
their consecrated baskets the mystery of their God, while after their
banquet it was usual to pass around the cup which was called "The Cup
of the Good Daemon," whose symbol was a serpent. This was long before
the institution of the rite of the Last Supper. The fable of the method
by which the god Aesculapius was brought from Epidaurus to Rome, and
the serpentine form in which he appeared before his arrival in Rome
for the purpose of checking the terrible pestilence, are well known.
The serpentine column which still stands in the old race course in
Constantinople is certainly a relic of serpent worship, though this
fact was not appreciated by Constantine when he set it up.
The significance of the Ark is not to be overlooked. First, Noah was
directed to take with him into the Ark animals of every kind. But this
historical absurdity, read aright and in its true phallic sense, means
that the Ark was the sacred Argha of Hindoo mythology, which like
the moon in Zoroastrian teachings, carries in itself the germ of all
things. Read in this sense the thing is no longer incomprehensible.
As _En Arche_ (in the beginning) Elohim created the Heavens and the
Earth, so in the Ark were the seeds of all things preserved that
they might again repopulate the earth. Thus this Ark of Noah, or of
Osiris, the primeval ship whose navigation has been ascribed to various
mythological beings, was in fact the Moon or the Ship of the Sun, in
which his seed is supposed to be hidden until it bursts forth in new
life and power. But the dove which figures so conspicuously in the
biblical legend was consecrated to Venus in all her different names, in
Babylon, in Syria, in Palestine and in Greece; it even attended upon
Janus in his Voyage of the Golden Fleece. And so the story of Jonah
going to Joppa, a seaport where Dagon, the Fish-God was worshipped, and
of the great fish, bears a suspicious relation to the same cult, for
the fish was revered at Joppa as was the dove at Nineveh.
It has been impossible to dissociate serpent and serpent worship from
Aesculapius. This is not because this mythological divinity is supposed
to have been the founder of my profession, but because he has been
given at all times a serpentine form and has been, apparently, on the
most familiar terms with the animal. Pausanias, indeed, assures us that
he often appeared in serpentine form, and the Roman citizens of two
thousand years ago saw in this god "in reptilian form an object of high
regard and worship." When this divinity was invited to make Rome his
home, in accordance with the oracle, he is represented as saying:
"I come to leave my shrine;
This serpent view, that with ambitious play
My staff encircles; mark him every way;
His form though larger, nobler, I'll assume,
And, changed as God's should be, bring aid to Rome."
(Ovid: Metamorphosis XV).
When in due time this salutary serpent arrived upon the island in the
Tiber he began to assume his natural form, whatever that may have been;
"And now no more the drooping city mourns,
Joy is again restored and health returns."
Considering then the intimate relation between the founder of medicine
and the serpent it will not seem strange to you that the serpent myth
is a subject of keen interest to every student of the history of
medicine.
This devotion to serpent worship appears to have lingered a long
time in Italy, for so late as the year 1001 a bronze serpent on the
basillica of St. Ambrose was worshipped. De Gubernatis speaking of it
says, "Some say it was the serpent Aesculapius, others Moses, others
that it was the image of Christ; for us it is enough to remark that it
was a mythological serpent before which the Milanese mothers offered
their children when they suffered from worms, in order to relieve
them," a practice which was finally suppressed by San Carlo. Moreover,
there has persisted until recently what is called a snake festival in
a little mountain church near Naples, where those participating carry
snakes around their persons, the purpose of the festival being to
preserve the participants from poison and sudden death and bring them
good fortune. (Sozinskey).
The power of the sun over health and disease was long ago recognized
in the old Chaldean hymn in which the sun is petitioned thus:
"Thou at thy coming cure the race of man;
Cause the ray of health to shine upon him;
Cure his disease."
Probably some feeling akin to that voiced in this way gave rise to the
following beautiful passage in Malachi (4:2):
"The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings."
As a purely medical symbol the serpent is meant to symbolize prudence;
long ago men were enjoined to be "As wise as serpents" as well as
harmless as doves. In India the serpent is still regarded as a symbol
of every species of learning. It has also another medical meaning,
namely, _convalescence_, for which there is afforded some ground in
the remarkable change which it undergoes every spring from a state of
lethargy to one of active life.
According to Ferguson, the experience of Moses and the Children of
Israel with brazen serpents led to the first recorded worship paid
to the serpent, which is also noteworthy, since the cause of this
adoration is said to have been its intrinsic healing power. The
prototype of the brazen serpent of Moses in latter times was the Good
Genius, the _Agathodaemon_ of the Greeks, which was regarded always
with the greatest favor and usually accorded considerable power over
disease.
The superstitious tendency to regard disease and death as the
visitation of a more or less capricious act by some extra mundane power
persists even to the present day. For example, in the Episcopal book
of Common Prayer, it is stated, in the Order for the Visitation of the
Sick, "Wherefore, whatsoever your sickness be, know you certainly that
it is God's visitation," while for relief the following sentiment is
formulated in prayer, "Lord look down from heaven, behold, visit and
relieve these, thy servants," thus voicing the very ideas which were
current among various peoples of remote antiquity and eliminating all
possibility of such a thing as the regulation of disease or of sanitary
medicine.
IV
IATRO-THEURGIC SYMBOLISM[4]
[4] An Address before the Maine Medical Association, Portland, June
2nd, 1898.
So soon as had subsided the feeling of surprise, caused by a most
unexpected invitation to address you to-night, I began at once to cast
about for a subject with which I might endeavor so to interest you as
to justify the high and appreciated compliment which this invitation
mutely conveyed. And so, after considerable reflection, it appeared
to me that it was perhaps just as well that medical men should be
entertained, even at such a gathering as this, by something which
if not _of_ the profession was at least _for_ the profession, and
still not too remote from the purposes which have drawn us together.
Accordingly I decided to forsake the beaten path and, instead of
selecting a topic in pathology or in surgery, upon which I could
possibly speak with some familiarity, to invite your attention to a
subject which has always been of the greatest interest to me, yet upon
which it has been hard, without great labor and numerous books, to get
much information. If I were to attempt to formulate this topic under a
distinctive name I could perhaps call it _Medico-Christian_ Symbolism.
It is well known to scholars that practically all of the symbols and
symbolism of Christianity have come from pagan sources, having been
carried over, as one might say, across the line of the Christian
era, from one to the other, in the most natural and unavoidable way,
although most of these symbols and caricatures have more or less lost
their original signification and have been given another of purely
Christian import.
To acknowledge that this is so is to cast no slur upon Christianity;
it is simply recording an historical fact. It would take me too far
from my purpose to-night were I to go into the reasons which brought
about this change; I simply want to disavow all intention of making
light of serious things, or of reflecting in any way upon the nobility
of the Christian Church, its meanings or its present practices. But,
accepting the historical fact that Christian symbols were originally
pagan caricatures, I want to ask you to study with me for a little
while the original signification of these pagan symbols, feeling that
I can perhaps, interest you in such a study providing that it can be
shown that almost all of these emblems had originally an essentially
medical significance, referring in some way or other either to
questions of health and disease, or else to the deeper question of
the origin of mankind and the great generative powers of nature, at
which physicians to-day wonder as much as they did two thousand years
ago. Considering then the medical significance of such study I have
been tempted to incur the charge of being pedantic and have coined the
term _Iatro-Theurgic Symbolism_, which title I shall give to the essay
which I shall present to you to-night.
As Inman says, "Moderns who have not been initiated in the sacred
mysteries and only know the emblems considered sacred, have need
of both anatomical knowledge and physiological lore ere they can
see the meaning of many signs." The emblems or symbols then, to
which I shall particularly allude, are the _Cross_, the _Tree_ and
_Grove_, the _Fish_, the _Dove_, and the _Serpent_. And first of all
the Cross, about which very erroneous notions prevail. It is seen
everywhere either as a matter of personal or church adornment, or as
an architectural feature, and everywhere the impression prevails that
it is exclusively a Christian symbol. This, however, is the grossest
of errors, for the world abounds in cruciform symbols and monuments
which existed long before Christianity was thought of. It is otherwise
however with the Crucifix which is, of course, an absolutely Christian
symbol. The image of a dead man stretched out upon the Cross is a
purely Christian addition to a purely pagan emblem, though some of
the old Hindoo crosses remind one of it very powerfully. No matter
upon which continent we look we see everywhere the same cruciform sign
among peoples and races most distinct. There perhaps has never been
so universal a symbol, with the exception of the serpent. Moreover
the cross is a sort of international feature, and is spoken of in its
modifications as St. Andrew's, St. George's, the Maltese, the Greek,
the Latin, etc. Probably because of its extreme simplicity the ages
have brought but little change in its shape, and the bauble of the
jeweller of to-day is practically the same sign that the ancient
Egyptian painted upon the mummy cloth of his sacred dead. Thus it will
appear that the shadow of the Cross was cast far back into the night
of ages. The Druids consecrated their sacred oak by cutting it into
the shape of a cross, and when the natural shape of the tree was not
sufficient it was pieced out as the case required. When the Spaniards
invaded this continent they were overcome with surprise at finding the
sign of the Cross everywhere in common use. It was by the community of
this emblem between the two peoples that the Spaniards enjoyed a less
war-like reception than would otherwise have been accorded to them.