The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-08-04

Effective in Cases Where X-Ray
FaiIed-Demand for the New Ele-
ment at $4,000 an Ounce Far Ex-
ceeds the supply.

A writer in the Times today has an
interesting article dealing with the
practical uses to which 1adium can
and may be put. He laments the fact
that there is no sign that the cheml-
cal industry in England has yet
awakened to these possibilities. In
Germany and France radium is being
successfully produced on a manufac-
turing scale. The demand at $4,000
pounds an ounce is far in excess OF the
supply, whereas in England it IS
neither being produced nor its manu-
facture attempted.
Some of the most hopeful and most
important uses of radlum are in the
field of medicine. Physicians and doc
tors complain of the impossibility of
regulating the character of H-rayS so
as to repeat with certainty In desired
result. Radium gives a beautifully
consistent and uniform supply of rays.
Instead of the cumbus focus tube,
| nearly as large as a football, and the
manifold expensive items Of the H-rav
outfit, a glass tube, somewhat smaller
| than a toothpick and containing from
| one-tenth to one-fifth of a gram of
| radIm, has already been successfully
| employed in cases Of cancer, since the
| little tube can be inserted in cavities
/ no larger tn3l the nOSlIll.
| In a great many cases in which 1t
! was impossible to use the N-rays, ra-
| dunn has beer readily employed. as is
| shown by the following case at Char
ing Cross hospital. y rodent cancer OF
the nose which had REQUIRED after an
| operation and had been unsuccessfully
treated by the N-rays was subjected
to a short exposure of radium. Four
exposures. aggregating about an nour,
were gwen at intervals OF a few days.
In three weeks the diseased part was
healing well, me in six weeks after
two further exposures the cancer dis
appeared completely without leaving
any visible scar. Similar success in
treating an otherwise lncurable cancer
was reported from Vienna last week.
The fact that radium inclosed in a
lead box an incl thick and brought
near a person in a lark room causes
the same feeling as a flash of light on
the retina, even when the eyelids are
tightly closed, and that the same SEN
sation is experienced by the blind, is
attracting the serious attention Of
medical men, and the successful treat
ment of many other diseases than
cancer may be confidently expected in
the near future.
The great problem of the application
IF radium for illuminating purposes
belongs to another class, thaL is, It
would be perfectly practicable if the
supply of radium was somewhat more
abundant than at present. 4 SMALL
fraction of an ounce of radium proper
ly employed would probably prove to
be a good light sufficient for several
rooms. which, at any rate during the
present century, need never require re-
newal. As a grain of radium throws
forth from ten to a hundred million
projectiles per second, the light avail
1 4 HE from n grain would DrOEahlV
equal several candle power.
Other conceivable applications Of
radium to supply other forms Of ener-
gy besides light belong to still. another
class. so far as car be seen OF pres
ent. and will only become applicable
if the available supply of radium is
increased beyond what seems iust now
possible. for il cannot be expected that
such a very radioactive element will
! ever become very abundant. Radio
active elements are spontaneously
breaking up and the small quantities
OF radium which are found in uran<
UNI minerals from which it is extract
ed must be regarded as the amour
that has survived the disintegrating
process which has probably extended
through the geological epochs Of time,
Il is therefore not to be expected that
q much more abundant source than
pitchblende. which probably does not
contain more than 10000 per cent Of
radium will be found.
Still another class covers the posi-
biIities of r~adiO-activity which are
awaiting further steps of scientific
knowledge before they can materialize.
The most striking fact of radioactive
ity is its unalterability. Radium con-
tains an immense reservoir OF energy,
sufficient to maintain its continuous
powerful radiations for many centu-
ries: but all attempts to increase its
activity or make it supply its energy
at a faster rate have signally failed.
If 1t is ever possible to accomplish
this and to concentrate the OUTPUT Of
energy which is now being dissipated
over several centuries into the space Of
a few days or weeks, then there is
not the least doubt of the result. Pro
facSnr Rntharfnrd from his OWL eS-