Scientist turns to ritual

Press, 24 January 1986, Page 6

Scientist turns to ritual

NZPA-Reuter Rio de Janeiro The world’s leading authority on hummingbirds, Augusto Ruschi, sought the advice yesterday of a Brazilian Indian chief on tribal rituals that might cure him of poisoning by black toads. A spokesman for a Txucarrama Indian chief and witch-doctor, Raoni, said after he met Mr Ruschi in Rio de Janeiro, that the cure, including herbal baths, dreams, and pipe-smoking, would probably start today in a Rio park. Mr Ruschi, aged 70, said last week that he had handled some small black toads, which he had come across while trying to track down a new species of humming-bird in the remote territory of Amapa, in northern Brazil, 10 years ago. He later recognised the toads as a type that secretes a poison through the skin, for which there is no known antidote.