About the Mace
The mace is carried by the Marshal of the Convocation while leading the academic procession, and its placement on the table indicates that the Convocation is in session. Between ceremonies, it rests at the headquarters of the College, where it may be viewed by visitors.
The carvings in the tombs of Ancient Egypt (the Old Kingdom, 3100 to 2200 BC) show that the mace was accepted first as a symbol of power by strength and later as a symbol of royal inheritance. It was also used as a formidable weapon throughout history as late as the Crusades. With the coming of the longbow and later gunpowder, the mace became solely a symbol of authority in government and, in the case of universities and learned societies, of leadership, scholarship, and dignity.
The Mace of the College, 50 inches in length, has both historic and symbolic features of great interest. The head and foot of the Mace have been designed and created by the artist, A. G. Styles of Garrard and Company Limited of London, Goldsmiths and Crown Jewelers to the Royal House of Great Britain and the source of many of the most beautiful maces in use throughout the world today. The head, made of silver and gold, exhibits at its center, in modern spirit, the twin serpents of Aesculapius and the Lamp of Wisdom, the Book of Knowledge and the Poppy, symbolic of medicine and its practice. The rough texture of this central feature contrasts with the extremely fine surface of the Mace head proper. The silver gilt finial atop the spire represents the flames of the Torch of Progress. Around the base of the head are engraved the words from the first aphorism of Hippocrates: "Life is Short and the Art is Long."
The shaft of the mace is made from wood from the Great Plane Tree of Cos under which Hippocrates is alleged to have taught his students more than 2,000 years ago. This was secured through the efforts of His Excellency, Henry R. Labouisse, United States Ambassador to Greece, as a gift from the Greek Government. This rare wood was treated for preservation at the Forest Products Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Madison, Wisconsin. Don Turano, the noted wood sculptor of Washington, DC, designed and carved into the shaft the figure of Hippocrates discoursing to his students under the plane tree, with quotations from the Hippocratic Oath in Greek.
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