Raimondo Villano : book Eye of the needle - p. 4 Culture - Caduceus

R.Villano - Eye of the needle: pharmaceutical meridians between secular ethics and Catholic moral 3
wonderful to my wife Maria Rosaria
for his infinite loving patience
for criticism and suggestions,
for its tolerance and its support
throughout the preparation of the book,
my thanks and my love;
My adorable son, Francis,
small admirable scholar of Egyptian history,
to participate
active loving and emotional
And because we know,
memories, and it will hand;
those who trust in the values
for a true profession
to improve quality of life.

R.Villano - Eye of the needle: pharmaceutical meridians between secular ethics and Catholic moral6
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© Copyright Raimondo Villano.
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First published in English in April 2011.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Presentation 25
Preface 27
History 33
The pharmacy and hieratic iatreic magismo between and paganism 35
God's time with the man 43
Galenic and Signature, monasticism and Fall of the Roman Empire 48
Alchemy and Arab-Islamic civilization 52
The era of St. Benedict and the School of Salerno 54
The development of the monasteries hospitality and ethos 59
From the awakening of the culture and customs of the university and the advent
of the lords 61
Regimina, hospitals, corporations and Frederick Costitutiones 64
Alchemy and the Church bubonic plague 69
Humanism, Noble College, rebirth of magic, Florentine Recipe 74
Renaissance, New World, St. Giovanni Leonardi 83
Scientific development, black death, doctrine and systems iatrochemistry 90
Enlightenment, the scientific development of chemistry, revolutionary epoch 97
Napoleon’s heyday, positivism, breach of Porta Pia, the Industrial Revolution 103
From the Great War to World War II 111
From WWII to Paul VI 113
By John Paul II to Benedict XVI 115
Ethics 125
Oath of Hippocrates 127
Oath of Maimonides 127
Pharmacist’s Code of Conduct 129
Oath to the Profession of Pharmacist 144
The system Pharmacy 145
Drug Card 145
Code of Conduct Farmindustria 147
Erice Declaration on ethical principles of pharmacogenetic research 157
Rome Declaration on Combating counterfeit drugs 160
Berlin Declaration on Pharmacovigilance 161
Statements of principle and of international organizations of pharmacists 182
State of the art Speziali of the Republic of Siena (1355) 182
Saladin d’Ascoli: the apothecary, from “Compendium Aromatariorum” I
Particula (XV sec.)
186
Iacono M. S.: “The true way to elect, to prepare medicaments et simple dial” 187
Iacono M. S.: “De l’officio de lo speciaro” (1559) 189
Fiorentino Cookbook: The Good Speziale 190
Fiorentino Cookbook: The Apothecary Shop of 190
Noble College Statutes - Chapter One (1787) 190
Statute Noble College - Monitoring Arrangements (1787) 191
Statute Noble College - Provisions on discipline and harmony (1787) 192
Religion 193
Pharmacist's Prayer 195

Prayer of the Military Health 195
Prayer to St. John Leonardi Patron of Pharmacists 195
Invocation to St. John Leonardi 196
Address of John Paul II to the participants of the 1981 FOFI 196
Discorso di Giovanni Paolo II ai congressisti FOFI del 1981 197
Letter Apostolic S.S. John Paul II Salvifici Doloris 199
Address of John Paul II to FOFI (1986) 220
Health Care Workers in the Italian Church 222
P. B. Honings “Charter for Health Care Workers. Synthesis of Hippocratic
ethics and Christian morality”
227
S.S. John Paul II: “Institution of the World Day of the Sick” 233
Pontificia Academia Pro Vita, V General Assembly "Final Declaration" 234
Pontificia Academia Pro Vita "The Christian conscience in support of the right
to life"
236
Homily of His Holiness. John Paul II visited the parish of St. G. Leonardi Torre
Maura
238
SS message. John Paul II to the Rector General of the Order of St. G. Leonardi 240
Promise of Catholic Pharmacists 242
Ex aedibus Congregationis de Cultu Divino et Disciplina Sacramentorum:
Italiae
242
Society 243
The future of this: the implications of the drug on the human race 245
Towards the global information society 256
The protection of the right to life in contemporary society 262
Philosophical, moral and existential of new telecommunications systems 265
Technology 273
Policy pharmacovigilance 275
Concepts of privacy 280
Historiography of the major pharmaceutical institutions 283
Drugs and the Internet 297
Policies to combat counterfeiting of medicines 302
Reflections on recent criticism of the Institute of Pharmacy 305
Values of safety management in Pharmacy 319
Culture 321
The caduceus 323
The Hippocratic ethics and Christian morality 327
The patron saint of pharmacists and Protectors 331
Art and pharmacy 340
Readings satirical 344
Thoughts on some implications of contemporary historiography pharmaceutical 348
Role of information technology in the development and dissemination of study
of the History of Pharmacy
351
Assumptions of multimedia design for the History of Pharmacy 359
Author 363
Profile 365
Pubblications 367

“There have been some people
from a speech or a reading
have collected a sentence, a word, an ear
that has fed them for the rest of life.
When you hear a good ear,
and hold fast Take it and say:
this is mine!”
Girolamo Savonarola
(adaptation Gianfranco Ravasi in secular breviary)

Presentation
he work of Raimondo Villano “Eye of the Needle: Pharmaceutical meridians
between secular and Catholic moral ethics” is to fill a gap in treatment in an
Italian field senpre most popular and, no doubt, of great prospects.
Raimondo Villano, already a harbinger of original contributions, now provides this in
his book to students of pharmaceutical sciences and pharmacology, a number of
valuable insights and reflections.
It is, therefore, Altamar meritorious work of Raimondo Villano thrash for a large
crowd of readers and scholars in the field of medicine and the various problems at the
same time, highlight the difficulties of promoting science for an audience already
mature and tempered by the situation particularly serious, especially with regard to
therapeutic aspects.
This issue is framed in the proper form and is full of prospects.
The chapters of the book of Villano are full of philosophy and the high culture and
humanity of the author emerge here and there, with classical references and your
knowledge of the subject allows him to go through the same property by the
etiopathogenesis of language sociology.
It is my hope that this book does not just go and use the analysis to the study of
farmacogenesi but also promotes public awareness, all too often ignorant and
helpless in the face of health problems: to this end, efforts will certainly reading
of Raimondo's Villano excellent book.
Naples, September 20, 2008
MD, PhD Giulio Tarro
Chairman of committing on
Biotechnologies and VirusSphere
World Academy of Biomedical
Technologies WABT (UNESCO, Paris)
(Former student of A. B. Sabin and member
of the Italian National Commission of Bioethics)
T

Preface
oing beyond the self to universal custom, superficiality and quiescence can mean
profitable to compete in the Profession to loose the virtual image of the real
distinction and mend your status more appropriate aperture public(1)
.
Rather than let me be dominated by feelings of powerlessness in the face of such
self-evident observation, I have endeavored to develop this work so that fits into the track
of awareness of his colleagues and trying to inspire them inspired by the ethics of
responsibility expressed by Max Weber’s notion that “effort would never be reached
unless there were those, and again, attempt the impossible(2)
”.
The objective is, therefore, seeking to ensure the profession is also progressing with the
instrument of culture lata in its most proper and the old cultus, from Coleraine, or
cultivate, cultivating: the educated person, in fact, he has carefully cultivated self-
respect. Acquired this care and self-respect, the cultured person becomes more likely,
more and more programs designed to care for and respect of others, then yes, that culture
is an indispensable tool to create that active citizenship rooted professional, productive
and effective in daily is desirable that the ultimate goal. Are released, so those formidable
energies capable of taking man out, keeping him conscious of his personal dignity,
enriching him with deep humanity and place it with its uniqueness in the fabric of society
and the profession(3)
.
Free of hubris in classical memory, but maybe not quite outdated, and with all the
“overage” of modesty that I think deserves the approach to certain problems, a reading of
the Meridian I think can be trained in order to help differentiate certain
elementsprospective professional, social, cultural and technical area to be ones that, in
terms of stringency, the concreteness, the fineness and consistency of argument, a
significant advancement of the reflection of the professional design and creation of
awareness at least potentially prodromal for works and “shares” as more desirable with
the high-end work for the man(4)
.
First, adhering to the life education or training is not intended only as a time of learning
but also as a work that, in contrast to the view that the mind of the learner is devoid of
intrinsic qualities and container to be filled with the most knowledge, is inspired by the
idea that education is the education of the memory of a function, to form working on
valuable content on material with deep feeling. It is clear, citing an authoritative
contemporary philosopher, Karl Popper, who with such moments of sense thought into
the process of memory which, therefore, becomes memory judicious. With such
substantial logical connection I think there is going to investigate other important issues
_______________
(1) Raimondo Villano, presentation of training courses on Safety and Quality business, ethical and
professional training courses for managers curated by Piero Renzulli and Raimondo Villano under the
patronage of the President of the Republic and the UN Year of Worker Memorial , Pompei, Oct. 2000.
(2) Visit the Representative of the President of Rotary Club International at Pompeii: Rotary Club
speech by President Raimondo Villano Pompei, Pompei, 5 May 2001.
(3) Visit the Representative of the President of Rotary Club International at Pompeii: President’s speech
of Journalists of Campania Ermanno Corsi, Pompeii, May 5, 2001.
(4) Antonio Carosella - Raimondo Villano “Man as an end: the activities of District 2100 of Rotary
International-Italy ar 1998-99”, multimedia edition on CD-ROM (sponsored by Rotary District 2100 RI,
Ed Eidos, 421 Mb - 554 files - pag. 3162; Sorrento, July 2000).
G

profession, or preparatory to it or confluent, after using the historical journey of several
other locations(5)
.
It is desirable, first, that a path with the help of Church leading man of faith, but not only,
to become aware or more aware of the possible ways of freeing the great crisis of
spiritual values which surrounds us in life and in profession, and that it strengthened and
extended to most if not all, the need to reinvigorate their commitment to the Lord with
courage to carry on the Christian action or substantial enlightened lay apostolate(6)
.
Strive, therefore, as a humble branch of the Great Vine, the second lay Christifideles(7)
,
further open their hearts with good will so that his and others' lives are better ordered at
the highest values.
In addition, it is hoped that further action can be stimulated to arise under such conditions
is that the moral theories, in front of an abundance of cultural systems in evolution, are
not feeble attempts to make an absolute quota and their validity is not likely to be
confined to a particular historical stage of a given society. It could create more targeted
and reach such a way, through comparisons and construction processes, also at individual
resolutions or actions in any way that the story does appear to be non-antagonistic ethics,
relativizing the first absolutizes what the other, but rather the field in which the ethical
demand makes sense(8)
.
From the jumble of the elements of the depth and thickness of talented colleagues,
believe that love is much more than that I am privileged to know, can take further sap the
strength of their ideas and the actions which can go towards new directions and perhaps
even wider horizons, of course, by virtue and not in spite of an appreciable diversity of
expression and essential, but in a particularly fruitful opportunities that make you feel
more deeply that what little or much you can do for others produces enrichmentand
increases in the size of his own humanity wonderfully (9)
.
By opting for a different choice, however, it seems worthwhile to take in mind the
statements of Mahatma Gandhi, “is not the critic who counts, not the man that indicates
why the sharp falls, or where the filmmaker could have done better. The credit belongs to
the man who is in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat, fighting valiantly,
who errs and may fall again, because there is no conquest without fault or weakness that
really fight for carried out, who knows the great enthusiasm and great faith, that strives
for a noble cause, which at best knows in the end the triumph of high goals and, at worst,
if he fails, at least fall gloriously, so that the his place shall never be close to the fearful
and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat”.
_______________
(5) Abs remodeled by: Raimondo Villano, The actions of the Rotary Club for Youth, Pompeii,
September 20, 2000.
(6) Raimondo Villano - Boris Ulianich, abs by talk of considerations about the meaning of Christmas,
Rotary Club, Ceremony Greetings, Pompeii, December 20, 2000.
(7) S.S. John Paul II, Christifideles lay
(8) Raimondo Villano, Reflections on the protection of life, (Rapporteur as the first signatory to the
submission of the motion to Co.L. International Rotary International for the establishment of a
worldwide day of celebration of the protection of life); District Conference Celebration of Family,
Rotary International, Pompei, Casa del Pellegrino, 10 February 2001. “Men as an men” multimedia CD-
ROM Edition (sponsored by Rotary District 2100 RI, Ed Eidos, 421 Mb - 554 files - pag. 3162;
Sorrento, July 2000).
(9) Meeting of the Coordinating Committee of the clubs in the area south of the Gulf of Naples on the
Forum “The establishment of the new Civil and Criminal Court in Torre Annunziata”, Abs. with input
from the Committee Secretary Raymond Villano, Castellammare di Stabia, Hotel Stabia, October 1993).

Eye of the Needle, then, is there to remind us how narrow and difficult passage through
which pass the meridians, which are ideal for wireless help to heal such a warp, using a
preliminary bonum otium of Horace’s memory and an essential cultural metabolism
between faith and reason which, to paraphrase Goethe, I filled the interior of his
colleagues ever higher feelings, desires that feed on deserve to be outsiders in their
breasts and food intake any more worthy(10)
.
However, having the gift of faith, I am comforted by the belief that “reason is the need
for infinite and culminates in the longing and the presentiment of this infinite posters(11)
”.
Raimondo Villano
_______________
(10) Raimondo Villano, Introduction, p.. 2 book cover of the CD of classical music "Two pianos
wandering through the centuries" Emma Rose Petrillo & Santoro, Quick Sound, Napoli, 2000.
(11) Theme of the Meeting of Rimini 2006 Communion and Liberation for the friendship of peoples.

“Be true to yourself.
Not to be weary and become something,
but works with zeal and perseverance
what ever you are and become someone”
List, motet

“Iwant to learn the timing of memory
because you taught me, where are you,
that my future is in our past (...)
are lost in the wind like ashes
signs of life”
Ugo Ronfani
THE CADUCEUS
he caduceus is part of the most striking symbols of the ancient history of human
culture, even among those now half-forgotten ancestral symbols that lie in current
psychological but of every individual, among the most ancient are counted in the
archaeological remains dating back to Mesopotamia and Indiathird millennium
BC. Among the caduceus remember not only the oldest one in which depicts a couple
belonged to the king of Mesopotamia Guda, ruler of the city of Lagash, but many boards
of Indian Vedic civilization, those reported on certain Egyptian monuments (often the
god of the dead Anubis is depicted carrying a caduceus), the caduceus of mythology
associated with the Babylonian god Mingzida, as described in the documents preserved in
Tibet and those found in many Greek and Roman temples. The word derives from the
Latin caduceus caduceus, which in turn takes up with a slight deformation of the phonetic
greek karykaion, karix adjective (or keerix) which means a herald, the term is part of the
European intellectual vocabulary. It looks identical, except for normal adjustments to
graphics and phonetic, in various languages (fr. caduceus, Engl. Caduceus, sp. Caduceus,
but we find a version translated into German Heroldstab, literally stick dell’araldo) and
indicates the stick or rod of the greek god Hermes(1)
, Mercury to the Romans, in his
capacity as herald or messenger of the gods. Hermes exhibited as a symbol for the
settlement of disputes (for this was carried by heralds and ambassadors as a symbol of
their function and as an emblem of their personal inviolability). The stick was also also a
moral and medical significance because it represented the honest conduct and at the same
time the physical health of the person. Mercury as messenger of the gods is also the
mediator of the divine among men, and he knows to be close to ordinary mortals and
implement their desires, their needs and is, therefore, instructed by Zeus-Jupiter to assist
people in their transition from life to death, accompanying them in the mansions of
Hades: for this reason, in fact, is called Hermes Psicopompo, “companion of souls” .
Mercury with the caduceus symbol, in addition, also effective immediately
pharmacology, therapy mercurial, precisely(2)
.
_______________
(1) Donatoglielo by Apollo in thanks for the discovery of his 50 oxen (rubatigli the same Hermes).
(2) In this regard, Aulus Cornelius Celsus reports that Hippocrates claimed that the drug treatment had
to act “and I quote, overalls, jucunda” in a quick, safe, pleasant. Before Mercury, however, the “magic”
stick emblem was given to Hermes Trismegistus, the mythical progenitor of magic Egyptian art intended
as a synthesis of universal knowledge in all its applications such as religion, medicine, the moral
law, philosophy, natural sciences, mathematics.
T

There are many, then, versions of the caduceus: the symbol of Hermes-Hermes-Mercury,
for example, consists of a staff with two snakes coiled-while that of Asclepius
Aesculapius(3)
often consists of a stick with a single coiled serpent. In 1200 BC the
serpent in the Bible, mentioned numerous times, took the ambiguous symbolism of life
and death, fertility and temptation, Moses had a stick with twisted bronze seraph with a
power that restore life to dying: in fact, the power of snake was not intrinsic but conferred
on him by a Higher Power. “He(4)
removed the high places and broke the stele, cut down
the sacred pole and tore the bronze serpent erected by Moses, in fact up to that time the
Israelites were burning incense and called him Necustan” (King, 18: 4, 715/685 BCE),
“For those who look back(5)
was saved, not by what he saw, but by you, the Savior of all”
(Wisdom 16:7 - the first century BC). In the book of Numbers (21, 8-9) about what
happened in the Garden of Eden is shown that, for the intolerance to feed on manna in the
desert, the Jewish people were punished by God with the bite of venomous snakes, at the
insistence Moses, then God himself suggested a remedy: a bronze serpent on a stick by
hoist. So the Jews bitten by snakes, watching the snake were healed, “Moses made a
bronze serpent on a pole and lomise, if a serpent had bitten any man, if he looked to the
bronze serpent, he lived”. Another episode is mentioned by John: “And as Moses lifted
up the serpent, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may
have eternal life” (Jn 3:14-15). Even Homer in the Iliad mentions the staff of Hermes:
“The rod by which God delights to delight the eyes of his death or those who sleep clock”
(Canto XXIV). According to another tradition, Asclepius was placed by Zeus in the
firmament as a star shape coil, cause or consequence of his portrait holding the snake.
Moreover, in the fourth book of Apollo, considered the father of Asclepius(6)
(Aesculapius to the Romans)(7)
, gave the Caduceus to Hermes in exchange for money.
Of all the Centaurs, violent and brutal, Chiron is characterized by wisdom and calmness,
and even his birth is different. All other bikers, in fact, arose from the conjunction,
sacrilegious, inter alia, of Ixion with Nephele, while Chiron was born of the relationship
between Kronos and Filira. This daughter of Oceanus, was taken by Crono on a small
island that had the same name but god, discovered by Rea, fled from the scene of her rape
becoming stallion and, consequently, the child was born was monstrous : half-man half-
horse, a centaur who was, however, a semi-god and therefore immortal. Filira, however,
to the disgust of her son asked the gods to be transformed and became a linden (phylira).
Chiron, then, is related to lime: plant with medicinal powers, calming and very popular in
the ancient world. Chiron grew and became the most learned among the Centaurs.The
myth gives him a long life and connects it to Apollo, to Asclepius, Achilles, Heracles.
Apollo, in fact, he loved that Coronis was pregnant by him. The latter, however, betrayed
him with Ischia and this was cursed by the god who commissioned his sister Artemis to
kill her with his arrows. Soon, however, sir, Apollo was able to Asclepius also learned
many of her knowledge and healing from his father Apollo (which was a gift from
Athena, two vials with the blood of the Gorgon Medusa with the blood gushed from the
left side and raise the dead while the other gave the death) and Chiron.
_______________
(3) In the Capitoline Museum Asclepius, however, is represented only with a big stick forever
symbolizing the snake.
(4) Hezekiah.
(5) The Brazen Serpent.
(6) Chiron, dwelling on Mount Pelion in Thessaly, rich in medicinal herbs, the wisest and greatest of the
Centauri, is a figure closely related to the medical world, dressing, herbs and medicinal substances.

According to classical mythology, then, the caduceus is born with Tiresias, soothsayer
and magician punished with blindness for having seen the goddess Artemis in the
bathroom, which meets in the woods two serpents in the act of love, hitting them with his
wand and At that moment it takes to form caduceus. As a result, Tiresias transforms into
a woman, suffering for ten years, the fate meet again after this period the two snakes,
struck them again and resumes its original condition. According to some scholars,
however, the caduceus is also identified in other mythologies with the axis mundi, the
pillar around which the whole human race. As the emblem of Hermes, the caduceus, as
the sign of the heralds, was originally a stick with white ribbons which have been
transformed into snakes refers to the symbolism inherent in the shape of the snake itself,
of power or rather, as Pliny says, ofintelligence and special feelings, mysterious life,
speed, dualism between life and death. The two snakes, therefore, not only allude to the
upward and downward direction, to the life and death, that is vital and fundamental to the
two polarities that govern all life, including good and bad, male and female, day and
night, but they also take many mystical meanings, alchemical, philosophical. The choice
of the snake as the main element of the Caduceus, and has even more hidden meanings:
on the one hand, it is related to its phenomenon of changes (such as reptiles to suit every
drop out of old skin, so to heal the sick must build a new body) On the other hand, and
referring to his sharp eye and his attention necessary prerogatives for physicians and for
their supervision, other qualities of the chief doctor. According to other theories, the
snake is an animal considered sacred because, mistakenly, immune disease.
According to other theories, however, the snake was an important practice in ancient
medicine: the temple in every town there was a sort of tunnel with snakes. The temple, in
fact, was not only a place of worship, but also a place where they carried certain
categories of patients: the Snake Pit was used to impress and, probably as a result of ad
hoc potions, suffered a shocks that followed the vision of God that healed them.
_______________
save Coronis when the child was already on the funeral pyre, he called Asclepius (Aesculapius in Latin)
and entrusted to Chiron because the breed. Asclepius became so, the god of medicine.
Chiron was raised and educated the son of Peleus and Thetis, Achilles in the Greek tradition that had
specific powers of ancient medicine, in fact, a famous Athenian cup the late sixth century
BCC. represents the hero as he is medicated Patroclus.
Heracles eventually be responsible for the death of Chiron having hit with an arrow in the knee during a
fight with the centaurs.Despite the medications that upset Heracles applied to his knee, the wound did
not heal and caused terrible pain to the rider that could not die, being semi-divine nature. Chiron,
however, with the approval of Zeus, he exchanged his immortal painful and useless condition with that
of Prometheus, resulting in death. Sons of Aesculapius are Hygieia, goddess of health, Panacea, goddess
of healing, and Podalirius Machaon, great doctors at the Achaeans under the walls of Troy.
(7) The cult of Asclepius came to Rome, following all’infierire for three years of a deadly epidemic, the
will stated in the Sibylline Books, “the alarmed priests in 291 BC Disease ... as much feral sent the fifth
construction at Epidaurus Ogulnia hospital and sacred, dedicated to the worship of Aesculapius, the god
to have lights. “ This form of a snake got into the Roman triremes, and came Tiber Island, and fell in
qcqua, reached the island itself, and there disappeared, indicating that place as you were to build a
temple dedicated to him on the hospital , which was executed by the Romans and is still home to a large
health center that the new priests were called brothers do well. (Giancarlo Lord - In the sign of
Aesculapius - Theory & Practice, Louis Armstrong, The Pharmacist FOFI, Year III, No. 10, May 23,
1996, Italpromo Libardi & Associates).

The coiled serpent as a symbol of the medical art is found also among the Egyptians with
the cobra on the crown of Isis, in Assyria with the Serpent of Fire, Mexico or Brazil with
the hieroglyph of the rattlesnake. In certain regions of the East, moreover, the two snakes
are Ida and Pingala and the stick central Sushumna, the three essential conducted, the
latter anatomically runs along the spinal cord while the other two along its sides. The
central stick, Sushumna, is the will or the consciousness that controls the snakes opposed
Ida and Pingala. The other essential component of the matrix etheric or vital system, are
the Chakras, energy centers (49 minor and 7 major) for the forces that circulate in the
etheric matrix. Each chakra is associated with a nerve plexus through which you connect
to adjacent organs. In ancient times the basic principle of each technique for healing (be it
with herbs, drugs, needles, or other), precious stones, was in the ability of stimulation or
sedation of the chakras of the body responsible for the revitalization unbalanced. It
should be noted, then, an analogy between the Buddha and Mercury both are symbolized
by a serpent. The winged serpent is also present in many different traditions, from the
Indian with the trident of Shiva, in which the central rod represented Asvatta (the Tree of
Life) and the two snakes Spirit and Matter (all three of the energies of the human body)
to China by a winged dragon with the South American Quezalcoatl, the “feathered
serpent”, and in any case, representing the union between heaven and earth, between the
serpent el ‘bird and a symbol of the polarity of good and evil in balance held by a god
who controls the force. The two snakes coiled in the opposite direction to the top and
placed opposite one another, un’intreccio in which the male ancestry of solar is on the
right while the female ancestry of the moon is to the left. Astronomically, the head and
tail of the two reptiles are the points of the ecliptic when the Sun and Moon come
together, almost in an embrace, metaphysically, the serpent represents the descent of
primordial matter in the gross matter; physiologically, then, represents the vital currents
that flow in the human body reported to the Universe, indicates, however, the ability to
control the chaos and bring order into it, creating harmony between the different styles
that revolve around the axis of the world, and finally reported to the human body, the
reptile shows the healing power of him who is able to bring harmony in a sick body. The
caduceus symbolizes the ability of reconciling opposites, creating harmony between
different elements such as water, fire, earth and air, and for this reason, and in the
symbolism of the pharmacopoeia, used frequently in chemistry as an indication of the
synthesis of sulfur and mercury .
In conclusion, the caduceus symbolizes the enigma of human complexity and its infinite
possibilities of development and is universally recognized as the emblem of medicine,
not only representing the “health” of the person but also the conduct of those who
practice the noble art of medicine, so what is negative in earthly things becomes positive
due to the caduceus and the struggle of two snakes facing each other and thus become
meaningless substances originally saving, transformed into a remedy thanks to medical
science.
_________________
Abstract from: Raimondo Villano, Treaty of the History of Pharmacy (in preparation).

“Divinum est opus sedare dolorem”
Hippocrates
HIPPOCRATIC ETHICS AND CHRISTIAN MORALITY
edicine and ethics are rooted in Hippocratic and appear in his works De
physician and, then, that De decent ornatu from libraries of Pergamon,
Ephesus and Alexandria are sent back to Byzantium in the tenth or eleventh
century Byzantium and then reach the West.
The relationship between doctor and patient is physical (perception pentasensoriale
diagnostics) and old (relevant medical history and prognosis) and the disease, although
not yet nosological entity but an existential experience of life and death, generation,
however, an anthropological phenomenon on which will be based insight and knowledge
more properly pathophysiology. Hippocratic medicine, also reveals children not only of
philosophy but also the democratic environment of the Ionian cities, where it thrives
tyranny: for that purpose, it develops a sort of Hippocratic iatrodemocrazia school that
gives attention to all of the sick person, as well as in context of personal history even
environmental geography, urban, social, work and home, taking charge of the entire
existence of the sick(1)
. The figure for the physician Hippocrates was the perfect union of
man with the perfect student: quiet action, serenity in the trial, morality, honesty, love for
their art and for the patient are the cornerstones of the personality of the doctor as it
was conceived by Hippocrates. Any personal interest takes second place. It is certainly a
superior and infallible as the priests of the ancient temples, but must overcome his
fallibility with full commitment and diligence to make only minor errors.
It must also be a philosopher but not to the point of being lured away from the real
science is one that relies on sound practices.Her dress, finally, it must be decent and looks
denote health. In the Hippocratic culture, philosophy will remain the cornerstone of
general medical training, as evidenced by Galen and how to find for centuries in the
ancient systems of medical schools. In his oath, then, outlines the physician Hippocrates
and Medicine in the moral, ethos, which must consider the life and values as the patient
and says, “I will not deadly drug to anybody, not even if asked, I never suggest to
take . Equally I will not give women abortifacient remedies(2)
. Hippocrates, then, from
460 to 360 BC he left a medical theory that connects the exact scientific observation and
experience with high ethics and human in a vision that demonstrates the utility from the
good done by the doctor handed down in the Christian camp in different ways in
historical periods in papal documents of the Church, works in theological and pastoral
medical texts(3)
.
_______________
(1) Cosmacini G., The Art-long history of medicine from antiquity to the present, Chapter V, GLF
Editori Laterza, Laterza Economica 212, Roma-Bari, 1997, p.. 66.
(2) In the Greece of the fifth and fourth centuries BC “Does not appear to be widespread refusal to
administer abortion and even deadly poisons in the case that the terminally ill request it” (Vegetti,
Hippocratic medicine, op. Cit, pag.311).
(3) Dr. Med Gottfried Roth, Professor of Pastoral Care Medicine at the University of Vienna (from the
Vatican website, the Roman Curia Pontifical Councils, documents: doc 10/05/1997).
M

There are, in fact, relations between the Corpus hippocraticum and theology for the fact
that the Hippocratic writings are not only a proven system of care but also have notable
similarities with the human image of the healthy and sick at the base of the Christian
view. In our time, Pope Pius XII in 1954 has defined the meaning of ethical and medical
works of Hippocrates: “...without doubt the noblest expression of a professional
conscience, which requires first of all to respect life and to sacrifice for the sick and take
into account also personal factors: self-control, dignity, privacy. He knew how to present
moral norms and put them into a broad and balanced curriculum, so it was a gift to the
most magnificent civilization that those who built empires(4)
”. Pope Paul VI on the same
line, warned the doctors considering the advancement of medicine: “It is obvious that
these new issues should not in any way prejudice the ideal physician who makes the
medicine in a long tradition of several millennia, by the oath Hippocrates, a defender of
life. Contamination of this cardinal principle would mean a fatal setback, which would
have disastrous consequences. This you can better estimate of everyone else(5)
”. Pope
John Paul I wrote the title of “illustrious” of imaginary letters to historical figures,
including Hippocrates, who “was a contemporary of Socrates and a philosopher like
him”. He calls it “the author of the famous oath ..., a moral code of everlasting value. I
swear in accordance with what doctors to prescribe the appropriate treatment for their
patients and to protect them from injustice, and above all handicaps. solemnly promise
not to induce an abortion, commit themselves to only go into a home for help the sick,
without accepting bribes. In addition they swear to uphold the sacredness of the secret
training(6)
”. With this list of medical-ethical commitments Pope John Paul I legitimizes
the inclusion of ethics in the ancient Greek way of thinking of the Christian doctor. Pope
John Paul II, mentioned in 1978, when the Association of Italian Catholic Doctors, ethics,
Hippocratic warned not to use medicines that “not only contradict the Christian ethic, but
every natural ethics, and are in open contradiction with the professional duties expressed
in the famous oath of the ancient pagan doctor(7)
”.
In his speech to the members of the General Assembly of the World Union of Doctors,
genetic manipulation, which reduces human life to an object, Pope John Paul II warned:
“Let all the faithful to the Hippocratic oath doctors, who provide when they graduate(8)
”.
In 1987 the Pope in his address to participants at the International Conference on the
“humanization of medicine”, calls to the service men aware of their duty: “Be deeply
convinced of this truth because of the long tradition dating back to the insights of
Hippocrates himself(9)
”. In appointing members of the Pontifical Academy for Life is
made expressly to mention to Hippocrates, “continued the Hippocratic tradition(10)
”. On
November 26, 1994 Pope John Paul II mentioned again indicating the Hippocratic Code
Vatican in which the Hippocratic Oath was written in the form of a cross, a symbol of the
_______________
(4) Pius XII, Zur Geschichte der Medizin. Ansprache am Sep 19.1954. In Pius XII, Address to the
doctors. S. 349 f., Rome, 1959.
(5) Paul VI, Das Arzt nicht beeinträchtingen Liche Ideal. L’Osservatore Romano - deutsche Ausgabe -
19.1.1973.
(6) PAPST Johannes Paul I, Illustrious, Padova, 1976.
(7) PAPST Johannes Paul II, Weisung Wort und im Jahr 1979, Rom-Kevelaer 1979.
(8) PAPST Johannes Paul II, Der Stuhl Apostolische 1983, S.1155, Rom-Köln 1983.
(9) PAPST Johannes Paul II, Der Stuhl Apostolische 1987, S.1699, Rom-Köln 1987.
(10) Pontificia Academia pro Vita, Rome 1994.

Christian conception of human nature, holiness, and also the mystery of human life(11)
.
In August 1893 Stohr makes repeated reference to Hippocrates, in part by a medicine
“theurgy” of the Greeks, which has certain similarities with the therapeutic treatment of
the soul and with regard to diet and general customs and habits of life(12)
. In the mid-
twentieth century, Albert Niedermayer summarizes the importance of Hippocrates:
“... although he had been charged, may still be today, just two thousand years after the
proclamation of the Gospel of Christ, an example and model for Christian doctors(13)
.
Anticipating an integral medicine Albert Niedermayer has clear ideas expressed his
universal vision, and features the real doctor who combines fundamental elements in his
conception of biological, anthropological, medical, human, social and ethical-
metaphysical(14)
. In 1997, Cardinal Fiorenzo Angelini, President of the Pontifical Council
for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers, shows that those who have read carefully
the text of the Hippocratic he saw it in the teaching of Christ. There is an undeniable
continuity between the content of the Hippocratic oath and that of Christian morality. The
continuity is given by a common commitment in promoting and defending life from
conception to natural death.Continuity even openly acknowledged by Pope John Paul II
who, in the encyclical Evangelium vitae, speaks of “ancient and still relevant Hippocratic
Oath, which states that every doctor to commit himself to absolute respect for human life
and its sacredness”. They are in fact four, the lines of the Hippocratic Oath: a deep
respect for nature in general, a unitary and integral human being, a rigorous relationship
between personal ethics and professional ethics, vision exercise maximum participation
of ‘art of medicine. There is, therefore, in the Hippocratic Oath, which introduces a clear
preparatory to the Christian vision of life, which subscribes to, while enriching them, all
four Hippocratic assumptions. However, only in full and complete defense of life that the
position of the great greek doctor you predispositiva acceptance of the concept of
Christian life as participation in the life of God, cast into eternity. And in that regard,
there is a key point in which the thought of Hippocrates and the Christian coincide and it
is to exclude any possibility of discrimination in the interior of the concept of
life.Hippocrates takes on the promotion and defense of life and address as a criterion in
the exercise of their profession and as a measure of his honesty and integrity as a doctor.
He knew very well that accept distinctions possible, provide for exceptions to this
principle would amount to make it fragile and vulnerable.
And he is so convinced that his oath leads to a religious view of life. (...) There are two
other aspects that are almost a turn-Christian Hippocratic ethics. They are: first, the need
for the doctor, in the exercise of his profession, is to serve the sick, not that it is necessary
to calculate concerned. A careful analysis of the Hippocratic Oath can reach a categorical
conclusion: few professional groups can agree on basic principles of business as the
category of those who serve the health, ie health care professionals. By identifying with
the perpendicular lines of a cross in the Christian world view and his encounter with the
vision-comparison or non-Christian views, we can imagine the health service and,
therefore, to life, as the exact point where the two perpendicular meet.
_______________
(11) Johannes Paul II, Address to the Holy Father on the occasion of the International Conference
organized by the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers and the Plenary of
the Pontifical Academy for Life, Rome 1994.
(12) Stöhr August, Die Naturwissenschaft auf dem Gebiete der Moral Katholischen a Pastoral, Herder,
Freiburg - S141 B 1893 f.; Stöhr August, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung Pastoralmedizin de
Handbuch der Hygiene der Her, Freiburg - B 1900.
(13) A. Niedermeyer, Compendium der Pastoralmedizin, Wien 1953.
(14) A. Niedermeyer, Grundriss der Sozialhygiene, Vienna - 1957 S. Bonn 30.

Of course, even in this field, the novelty of Christianity is represented by the doctrine and
practice on the exploitation of suffering when it despite every effort of science and any
other lawful means, remains invincible. But in reality, few truths are just as rational as
that of the exploitation of suffering, which makes development really appeal to all human
resources enabling the highest and noblest expression. It is not true, therefore, that only
faith can give strength to accept and value the pain. It can be confirmed decisively on
this, but his support may take root in human intelligence and reason which is also a gift
from God In early Christianity the Hellenic ideas have made their foundation and
Christian character by the fact that the preamble of the Hippocratic Oath, Apollo Soter
was replaced by Christus medicus. Because of a new diagnostic approach to the true
causes of disease, the Semitic, Hellenistic naturalism and the staff were connected in
early Christianity(15)
. Under the unifying authority of the model of Christus medicus, no
doubt attributed to the thinking of Hippocrates, developed a sense of ethical
responsibility of the doctor and then there were of medical oaths preambles with a
monotheistic character andconclusions with explicit reference to the instance with the
transcendent, to God, before whom the oath was provided(16)
.
“Pharmacy, Church of the desperate,
with a little god in every pill”
Pablo Neruda, Ode
_______________
(15) Pedro Lain Entralgo, Heilkunde in geschichtlicher Entscheidung, Salzburg 1956.
(16) Gottfried Roth, Die monotheistischen Präambeln Schlußformeln und Glaube und in den ärztlichen
Eiden.Wissennschaft 3 (1990) 115-121).
_______________
Abstract from: Raimondo Villano, Treaty of the History of Pharmacy (in preparation).

“If have thousands of ideas
and even one turns out to be good,
I can be satisfied”

Author

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