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UNTOLD STORY

The flying death

comes to America

When Richard Gill realised that a deadly poison might help his
multiple sclerosis, he decided to go to the Amazon to get it

TIS1932andRichardGilliscrouchingon dead in a matter of seconds,”wrote Gill in numbness in his legs mixed with painful
therainforestfloor.Hewatchesasaman his account, White Water and Black Magic, muscle spasms.“One morning I woke up
Iliftsasteamingpotoffthefire.Ithasbeen published in 1940. and my right side wasn’t there,”he wrote.
simmeringfordays,butnowitisready. Curare had been known to European “Suddenly, and for a long time, I became as
Themantakesawhip-thindartanddipsit explorers as early as the 1500s. Alexander von helpless as a baby.”The doctor diagnosed
intothetarryblackconcoction.Thepaste Humboldt, who had watched Orinoco river multiple sclerosis, and suggested a drug that
stickseasilytothetip. tribes preparing it in 1832, understood its had shown promise in recent experiments
It was the first time Gill had witnessed medical potential. The active ingredients are and might help ease the pain: curare.
COURTESY OF ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, LIBRARY AND CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO.
this ritual but it was not to be the last. His alkaloids that evolved to deter herbivores, The problem was getting hold of the stuff.
former job as a rubber salesman had brought but which also happen to block the receptors There was no supply of curare in the US:
him to Ecuador, and when he found himself between nerves and skeletal muscles in it was only known from the few small samples
unemployed after the crash of 1929, he and his animals. A high-enough dose causes paralysis. brought from various parts of the Amazon.
wife Ruth had used their savings to buy some The animal’s lungs stop working and although What’s more, no one knew exactly which
land in the Ecuadorian Andes. He often visited its heart continues to beat, it suffocates. plants went into the concoction or how to
his neighbours, the Canelo. At 2 metres tall, The Gills enjoyed life in the Andean prepare it properly. Adding to the confusion
he towered over the native people, but he was foothills, in the shadow of the Tungurahua was that every sample seemed slightly
humble and keen to learn. He worked hard to volcano. But they were not to remain there. different, and prejudice against such
win their trust and respect. On a return visit to the US, and shortly after “primitive”treatments was widespread.
Gill was fascinated by how the Canelo lived, falling from his horse, Gill began to experience “There were still the ritual-bound, die-hard
and particularly by their use of plants. He had odd symptoms: a tremor in his hands, then scientificos who were content to let curare
studied medicine for a while and although remain the mysterious flying death of the
he had decided against becoming a doctor, he dark jungles,”Gill wrote.
retained an interest in the subject. Some drugs Gill realised that his knowledge and
had already made it out of the Amazon into experience put him in a unique position.
modern medicine, including quinine and the He decided that he would return to the jungle
emetic ipecacuanha. There must be many and bring back a supply of curare. Given that
others, Gill thought. He knew that several he couldn’t walk, it was no small challenge.
plants went into the pot to make the substance But with a self-imposed programme of
they used to coat the darts that they fired out physiotherapy, Gill started to improve, one
of long blowpipes, and something in the finger at a time. After two years he was able
mix certainly had a large biological effect. to walk awkwardly, on crutches. All the while,
Skilled hunters could bring down an animal stuck in the US, he made plans, calculating
30 metres away. They called it“the flying what he would need for a major expedition
death”. To the outside world, it was curare. into some of the most challenging terrain on
“A mere skin prick by a dart laden with the
flying death, and any jungle beast suitable Richard Gill with one of the Canelo people,
for hunting by this method is painlessly watching curare preparation

40 | NewScientist | 20 January 2018