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collection (pictured, left): four wide leaves
and a sturdy vine, accompanied by a blow dart.
It is Chondrodendron tomentosum, which
we now know to be one of several species
containing alkaloids with curare-type action.
Gill brought back enough curare paste for
chemists to study its properties and tease
apart the molecular structure of the main
active ingredient, tubocurarine. A firm
called E.R. Squibb and Sons standardised
and marketed curare as Intocostrin. Doctors
used it to treat spastic paralysis and also
to prevent the frequent fractures seen in
psychiatric patients during electroconvulsive
shock therapy.
But its biggest impact was in surgery.
In January 1942, Canadian anaesthetist
Harry Griffith published a landmark paper
about his experience of administering
Intocostrin before abdominal surgery. It had
always been hard to ensure a patient remained
totally still under anaesthetic, and it usually
meant pushing them ever deeper into
IMAGE COURTESY OF THE WILLIAM AND LYNDA STEERE HERBARIUM OF THE NEW BOTANICAL GARDEN
unconsciousness – a risky step. With the
paralysing effect of curare, surgeons found
they could work more safely with totally still
patients. It also meant they could use much
lower doses of anaesthetic.
It became possible to perform operations
that before would have been too time-
consuming to be safe. The stillness of the
patient meant that ever more complex
procedures, such as eye operations and
neurosurgery, became possible.
During the second world war, an
anaesthetist called John Halton working in
Liverpool, UK, heard about Intocostrin from
an American doctor stationed in the country.
His combination of anaesthetic, painkiller
and muscle relaxant became known as the
Liverpool technique. It remains the mainstay
of anaesthesia today.
Gill does not record using curare on himself.
the planet. He also convinced Sayre Merrill, “Gill was fascinated by the A post mortem after he died in 1958, aged 57,
a wealthy Massachusetts businessman, Canelo and worked hard showed the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis
of the importance of his mission. Merrill had been correct, although Gill’s symptoms
agreed to fund the entire expedition. to win their respect” seem to have been mild in later life. He spent
Finally, walking with a stick, Gill re-entered the rest of his life promoting curare as a
the Ecuadorian jungle in 1938. With him to prepare curare for him in exchange for treatment. Although public recognition
were his wife, 75 porters, 36 mules, 12 canoes cloth, knives and other goods. Gill noted for his endeavours never really came, his
and quantities of equipment and goods which plants were gathered for the curare contribution was noticed by those who felt its
to trade. They headed east, deep into the mixture and took samples of each, along influence. In a letter to Gill in 1943, Griffith
Amazon basin. At times, they had to with scores of others that he thought might wrote:“I should like to express the very great
blindfold the mules to get them across have medical uses. appreciation of our surgeons, anaesthetists
swaying suspension bridges. At others, Four months later, the expedition returned and patients for the very useful work you have
they braved white-water rapids. with more than 10 kilograms of processed done in making the drug available to us.”
Eventually the expedition set up a base curare. He sent the botanical specimens to Surgery had entered the modern era. ■
camp close to a village. Because Gill was Boris Krukoff at the New York Botanical
known and trusted, the people agreed Garden. One is still part of the herbarium By Christopher Kemp

20 January 2018 | NewScientist | 41