Word: poisonously
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...that failed, they would have to accept the inevitability of an early election-probably this June, a year ahead of schedule. It would be an election they may well lose, but the Communists are leery of winning. Given what observers call a choice of "a gun or slow poison" (a quick, risky election or the certainty of ever-increasing Communist influence), the Christian Democrats seemed inclined to try shooting...
...very much like a "mini" historic compromise. The Christian Democrats at week's end sought instead to force a better accord in parliament. The situation left Moro-and the country-with a grim political choice. Said one political observer darkly: "It's either the gun or slow poison...
...many adversaries shrill in the same vituperative key. Even lovers snarl their sweet nothings, as if they were pouring poison into each other's ears...
...investigation indicated that at least 18 of the victims-including nine of those who died-had been given Pavulon, or pancuronium bromide, a synthetic variant of curare, the lethal plant toxin used by South American Indians to tip poison darts. Anaesthesiologists sometimes administer Pavulon to surgical patients to relax their muscles, but hospital records showed that no doctor had prescribed its use on any of the victims...
...bemused native kings. Malaria felled the adventurers in wholesale lots. The curative properties of quinine had been known for two centuries, but the drug had been brought from Peru by Jesuits and thus was thought unfit for Protestants. At least one explorer, Richard Lander, was forced to drink poison. This ritual proved his good faith when he survived it, and he was permitted to watch human sacrifices. "The head is severed from the trunk with an ax," he wrote blandly, "and the smoking blood gurgles into a calabash...