curare (koo-rah're)

Also written woorari, woorara, urari, ourari, uvari, and awara. Several varieties of native extracts, used as arrow poisons, are known under the name curare. They are commonly indicated by the kind of container in which they come into commerce, cal oh bash c. comes in a kind of gourd; tube c. in a bamboo; pot c. in jars, calabash c. yields the alkaloid curarin; tube c. yields tubocurarin and cur in; pot c. yields proto curarin and pro to cur in. There is some confusion concerning the chemistry of curare and the action is variable. C. paralyzes the motor endings of striped muscle, hence it has been used in convulsive conditions, but, owing to the paralysis of respiration which it induces, it is of little therapeutic use. It is used largely in physiological laboratories. [South American.]