The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1903-08-03
RADIUM Ard ITS USES.
New Element Considered SUI
perior to the x Rays.
EFFECTIVE IN CURING CANCER

hOae-tiay Cure the Bltnd-Has
Powerful Lighting Property and
Enormous Energy.
A writer in the London Times has an
article dealing with the practical uses
to which radium can and may be put.
He laments the fact that there Is no
| sign that the chemical industry IN Eng
land has vet awakened to these posi-
bilities lie says: I'm Germany and
France radium is successfully produced
on manufacturing scale. The de-
mand at $4,000 an ounce is far In ex-
cess Of the supply, whereas IN England
It is neither produced nor IS its manu-
facture attempted.
Physicists and doctors complain of
the impossibility Of regulating the
character Of X rays so as to repeat
with certainty any desired effect RAJ
dlum gives a beautifully consistent and
uniform supply Of rays Instead Of the
cumbrous focus tube, nearly as large
as a football, and the manifold expen-
siye items Of the X ray outfit a glass
! tube, somewhat smaller than a tooth
pick and containing from one-tenth to
one-fifth Of d grain Of radlum, has al
ready been successfully employed in
cases Of cancer, since the little tube can
be inserted In cavities no larger than
the nostril
I'm a great many cases in which II
was impossible TO use the X rays ra-
dium has been readily employed, as is
shown by the following case at Charing
Cross hospital. A rodent cancer Of the
nose which had required after an Oper-
alton and had been unsuccessfully
treated by the X rays was subjected TO
a short exposure Of radium. Four ex-
posures, aggregating about an hour,
were given at intervals Of a few days
In three weeks the diseased part was
healing well, and In six weeks, after
two further exposures, the cancer dis
appeared completely without leaving
any visible scar Similar success in
treating an otherwise fncurable cancer
was reported from Vienna
"The fact that radium inclosed Ii a
lead box an inch thick brought near a
/ person in a dark room causes the same
feeling as fash Of light on the retina,
even when the eyelids are tightly
closed and that the same sensation is
1 experienced by the blind is attracting
Il the serious attention Of medical men.
and the successful treatment OF many
/ other diseases than cancer may be con-
fdently expected In the near future.
1.-THE great POLLEN Of the application
OF radium for illuminating purposes be
4 longs to another class that is, 1t would
| be perfectly practicable if the supply Of
radium were somewhat more abundant
than at present. A small fraction of
an ounce Of radium properly employed
would probably prove to be good
light sufficient for several rooms, which
at any rate during the present century
need never require renewal.
"Other conceivable applications Of ra-
dium to supply other forms Of energy
besides light belong to still another
class. SO far as can be seen at present,
and viii only become applicable If the
available supply of radium Is increased
beyond what seems just now possible
for 1t cannot be expected that such a
3. very radioactive element will ever be-
come very abundant It is not to be ex-
pected that much more abundant
source than pitchblende, which proba-
bly, does not contain more than 10000
II per cent Of radium, will be found
1.-THE most striking fact Of radio ac-
hvity is its unalterability Radium
contains an immense reservoir of en-
ergy, sufficient to maintain its contin-
uous powerful radlations for many cen
! turtles, but all attempts to increase its
activity or make it supply its energy
at faster rate have slgnally failed. If
1t is ever possible to accomplish this
and to concentrate the output of ener-
gy which is now being dissipated over
several centuries into the space Of a
few days or weeks, then there IL not
the least doubt that an ounce would
suffice to drive a fifty horse power mo-
tor around the world at the rate of thir
ty miles an hour.
"The possibility of being able In the
]
future to control and store the energy
Of radium and to liberate 1t for use as
required at any desired rate Is the most
Interesting feature Of radio activity at
the present time. If it were ever possi-
BILE to do this with iridium il would all
most certainly be so for uranium and
thorium, which can be produced by the
ton and probably contain no less stored
energy than radium, but evolve It at a
vastly slower rate.
"our fathers busted themselves in
Specializing as TO what would become
OF us when The worlds coal supply was
exhausted, 4 single step Of science is
all that is needed for that problem to
be answered in a manner beyond the
dreams even Of the scientific novelist
but it must be confessed that science
holds out scanty prospects Of its fulfill
ment'
Bright Future for a Mining Town.
One of the richest mining towns in
the world will probably soon be