The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-29
'RADIUM IS IN DEMAND
PROFESSORS SEEKING PRECIOUS
 SUBSTANCE FOR EXPERIMENT.
Quantities in America--North Caro- lima and Colorado Ores Said to Be Rich in Supplies of
 Pitch Blende.

cancer and give flashes of light to the blind, and which Is expected to supersede and surpass x-rays, is being sought on the American market by scientists at the University of Chicago. Although this magical metal is many times more costly than gold or diamonds, and the French company which manufactures it is charg. ing $17o,O00 an ounce for 1t. the metal from which radium is extracted exists in the United States. and a company has re- gently been organized at Buffalo to pro- duce it for the various universities in the country.
 Dr. Robert A. Millikan, a physicist of note at the University of Chicago. says that within a few days he has received a communication from this American com pany. and that he has replied that the University of Chicago research workers are desirous of securing a consignment of the precious substance.
 High Price Startles.
 we have been too poor to buy any ra- dium, although very anxious to do so. be- cause the discussion of many questions brought up by it's discovery is probably the most important among the physicists, chemists and 'pathologists of Europe to- day." said pr. Millikan. The Societe Centrale of Paris purposes to ask $6.oOo a gram for radium, which Is a little more than $170,000 an ounce. Thus, to secure a quantity for experimental purposes here. unless there can be some reduction in the cost, we would have to spend as much as it might take to endow @ department" !"
 The scarcity of the worlds supply of radfum and the elaborate processes re- quired for it's extraction account for this enormous price. It is estimated that the complete supply of the world is not more than two tons, Professor Herbert N. Me- Coy of the department of chemistry says:
 Found in Uranium.
 The new substance. discovered only three or four years ago, is found princi- pally in uranium. Pitchblende is the name which the miners give to the mineral oxide form in which uranium is usually found. The chunks of pitch-blende look like coal, and are seen in Jumps smaller than a miners hand within veins of other min. erals. gold, silver or mica, or in small Jumps in granite.
 "Pitch-blende is but moderately abun- dant." said Professor Mccoy. ''The cost of getting radium does not come from the scarcity of the uranium in this form, but because in the uranium the radium is found in very minute quantities. To get a little bit of radium out of the immense amount of pitch-blende is like getting a tenth of a grain of gold out of three tons of sand. It Is estimated that pitch-blende does not contain more than one ten-thou- sandth per cent of radium. And, as has been proved by M. and Mime. Curie of Paris, who have led in this work, 1t is the most expensive process. Very natu- rally we are hoping that possibly some and extract the new metal more cheap ly." ~
 Quantities in America.
 That America possesses a considerable amount of pitch-blende, and that an in- crease fin the worlds supply of uranium will be made now that its great value ia known. Is believed by Dr. Oliver c. Far rington, curator of the department of geology at the Field Columbian Museum and professional lecturer for the univer- sity. In speaking of Americas stores of radium- producing minerals, he said:
 Outside of the United States. the only places where pitch-blende is found are Saxony, where the French chemists arc getting their supply; Bohemia, Norway, where it is found in granite, and Egypt.
 'In the United States there are three places where it is found in quantities. One of these Is in North Carolina, In Mitchell county, where Jumps of the pitch-blende are found in mica. These Jumps are not as big as your fist They are sold for 1 a pound. Uranium Is used for an alloy. Uranium salts are used in photography, and have been for many years.
 Mined in Colorado.
 ''The other two places are in Colorado. One is in Giipin county. where the pitch- blende is found in silver and gold ore. This was for a time mined extensively. and sold at $500 ton. But that did not pay, and it was given up. The second place is in the southwestern part of Col AA .As,v.n aa ts~.A aS. A stone. There is a yellow oxide of urania, which is spread out in extensive thin lay CTS. It is called carnotite, and was mined for time but finally given up as unpro- fitable. It had already been discovered that radium, with it's remarkable powers, is extracted from uranium. But since then this has become more widely known. and 1t may now make a difference. In Connecticut there are some scattering samples of pitch-blende, interesting mere ly as geological curiosities.
 If the powers of radium can be turned to practical uses, and the uranium there- fore gets an increase in value sufficient to warrant the cost of mining and ex- tracting radium. think that uranium will be found in many places unknown at present. Already 1t has been discovered in the slag from blast furnaces at iron works, by the Curies. look for an in-
 
 has been an increase in thorium since mantel lamps have created a demand fer that mineral"
 Value to Science.
 Professor Millikan yesterday said:
 'Radio-activity is the name of the gen. eral principle of which the workings of radium are the most wonderful. Radio activity means the giving off of waves which will penetrate objects that are opaque. While radio-activity is not con- fined to the passing of a wave of light, to put it in a popular term, the most fa- mf1iar example would be the ordinary K ray radiograph. The well-known picture is that of hand, in which the rays so penetrate the hand as to show on the pho- tographic plate the lines of the finger bones.
 But the waves of radio-activity are not mere waves of light. They are waves of particles of matter. and the marvellous value of radium Is that this metal throws off many more particles of matter and at more rapid rate than any other radio active agent. The radium is continually breaking up, and these little particles are shooting off in a wave that IS unchange- able, invariable and goes one-third as fast as the rays of the sun come to us-that is, it goes at 6O.O0O miles a second.
 The proof that the radio-activity of radium consists in the actual projecting from the radium of particles of matter comes as a concluding proof of the gen. eral principle that radio-activity is the passing of the minutest particles of matter and not mere agitations in the ether.
 Enduring Qualities.