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The Amazon & the Caribbean
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An Amazon Arrow Poison Is Why Modern Surgery Doesn't Fight Back
Curare, an Amazon arrow poison, paralyzes muscles - and in 1942 it opened the door to the muscle relaxants used in surgery today. Sources: McGill OSS; CSA; Amazon Conservation Team.
5 Solid
They Drilled Into a Living Skull - and the Patient Survived
Inca skull surgery survived at up to 80% while Civil War surgery killed about half - plus Aztec hospitals and the 1552 Badianus Manuscript. Sources: Andrushko/Verano; Ortiz de Montellano.
5 Solid
1 Contested
1 Myth-corrected