The sun., 1903-07-19
CURING CANCER WITH RADIUM
EFFECTIVE IN CASES WHERE
X-RAYS FAILED.
Demand for the New Element AZ Sss.OO0
an Ounce Far Exceeds the supply
Never VIII he Abunslant--Some Of
the Uses to which II May Be Put.

Never Will Be ADunuAmt-7SoWo ""
the Uses to which II May Be Fut.
Special Cable Despatch 10 rHE SUN
LONDON, July ls-A writer in the Times
to-day has an interesting 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 IN
dustry in England has yet awakened TO
these possibilities In Germany and France
radium is being successfully produced on
a manufacturing scale. The demand at
gl5,OOO an ounce Is far in excess OF the
supply, whereas in England it is neither
being produced nor its manufacture
attempted
Some Of the most hopeful and most inn
portant uses of radium are in the field OF
medicine. Physicists and doctors complain
of the impossibility Of regulating the char
acter of X-rays so as to repeat with GER
tainty any desired result. Radium gives
a beautifully consistent and uniform supply
of rays. Instead OF the cumbrous focus
tube, nearly as large as football, and the
manifold expensive items Of the A-ray
outfit, a glass tube, somewhat smaller than
q toothpck and containing from one-tenth
TO one fifth of grain Of radium. has already
been successfully employed in cases OF
cancer, since the little tube can be inserted
In cavities no larger than the nostril.
In a great many cases in which it was
impossible to use the X-rays, radium has
been readily employed. al is shown by
the following case at Charing Cross Hos
pital A rodent cancer OF the nose which
had rcc,rred after an operation and had
iIrf tal w the y-rayS
was subjected to short exposure OF radium.
Four exposures, aggregating about an
hour, were given at intervals Of few days
In three weeks the diseased part was heal
ing well, and in six weeks after two further
exposures the cancer disappeared com
pletely without leaving any visible scar.
Similar success in treating an otherwise
incurable cancer was reported from Vienna
last week
The fact that radium incosed in Lead
box an inch thick and brought near person
In a dark room causes the same feeling as
a flash of light on the retina, even when
the eyelids are tightly closed, and that tho
same sensation is experienced by the blind,
Ia attracting the serious attention OF medical
men. and the successful treatment OF many
other diseases than cancer may be conf
IDENTIFY expected in the near future,
The great problem Of the application OF
radium for Illuminating purposes belongs
to another class. that is, 1t would be per-
fectly practicable IL the supply Of radium
was somewhat more abundant than at
present. small fraction of an ounce
of radium properly employed would prob
ably prove to be a good light sufficient FOR
several rooms, which, at any rate during
the present century, need never require
renewal. As a grain OF radium throws
forth from ten to a hundred million pro-
jectiles per second, the light available
from grain would probably equal several
candle power
Other conceivable applications of radium
to supply other forms Of energy besides
light belong to still another class. so far
as can be seen at present, and will only
become applicable il the available supply
OF radium is increased beyond what seems
just now possible, for 1t cannot be er-
pected that such a very radioactive ole
ment will ever become very abundant.
Radioactive elements are spontaneously
breaking up, and the small quantities OF
radium which are found in uranium minerals
from which it is extracted must be re-
garded as the amount that has survived
the disintegrating process which has prob
ably extended through the geological
spochs Of time. 1t is therefore not to be
expected that much more abundant
source than pitchblende, which probably
does not contain more than 1-10 900 per
cont OF radium will be found
Still another class covers the possibili-
ties OF radio activity which are awaiting
further steps of scientific knowledge before
they can materialize. The most striking
fact OF radio activity is its unaterability.
Radum contains an immense reservoir
OF energy. sufficient to maintain it's con-
tinuous powerful radations for many
centuries; but all attempts to increase It's
activity or make it supply its energy at a
faster rate have signally failed II it is
ever possible to accomplish this and to
concentrate the output Of energy which is
now being dissipated over several CEN
turies into the space OF few days or weeks,
then there il not the least doubt Of the re-
suit. Prof. Rutherford. from his own
experiments and those Of DIR. Curie, has
calculated the energy stored up in one
grain OF radium az being sufficient to raise
500 tons mile high. An ounce, therefore,
would suffice to drive 80 horsepower
motor around the world at the rate of 80
miles an hour.
The possibility of being able in the future
to control and store the energy of radum
and to liberate 1t for Use an required at
any desired rate is the most interesting
feature Of radio-activity at the present
time. II IL were ever possible to do this
with radium, 1t would almost certainly be
no for uranium, and thorium, which can be
produced by the ton and probably contain
no less stored energy than radium, but
evolve il at a vastly slower rate.
Our fathers busted themselves in specu-
ating as to what would become OF us when
the worlds coal supply was exhausted.
A single step Of science il 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
flilfilment.
ETHEL BARRYNORE'S NEW PLAY.