The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1903-05-10
THE RADIUM PEOPLE
a VISIT TO THE CURES, DISCOVER
Frs OF WONDERFUL MINERAL
Aesnand and Wife Joint Laborers
For Many Years In the Realm of
Sctence-A Visit to Their Hor I'm
France.
Especial Correspondence7

Especial Correspondence.
sParis, April 27.-Few neonle GRO
! aware that the wonderful new mineral
called radium was made known to the
world through the efforts of a woman.
Nine. Curie, who is the wife of Pro-
fessor Pierre Curie, himself a scientist
OF no mean note. They are Parisians
ana for the moment are the most strik
Ing ana interesting personages in the
Guy. Ihelr home is in a small cottage
III the most inaccessible southern dis
trlct overlooking the Notifications and
iar away from the intellectual and
fashionable centers of the capital. New
ertheless this little cottage as may be
expected, has become a Mecca for all
interested in scientific progress and re-
search. While reticent regarding the
uses to which they expect radium to be
put-Professor Curie is now organizing
company to exploit the mineral-they
are courteous and willing to talk con-
corning the discovery and the nature of
the mineral.
1t appears, as Nine. Curie informed
me when l visited their pretty little
home recently, that her experiments
which resulted in the extraction and
isolation of the wonderful substance
were due to her having heard of the
accidental discovery by Becquerel, an
other French scientist, that uranium.
which is derived from pitchbIende,
emitted light rays. She at once re-
solved to secure some pitchblende and
try to determine it's chemical ANALYSIS.
In the subsequent experiments she was
Of course assisted by her husband, and
thus it is that the honor of discovering
radium is in the eyes of the scientific
world shared Jointly by them, although,
as a matter of fact, she can Justly
claim sole title.
After subjecting the pitchblende to
chemical tests she finally found that it
contained mineral exhibiting an ac-
tivity many times greater than the IA
nous cathode rays.
This mineral Mrs. Curie named polo
MUM in honor of her native country,
Poland. There remained another sub
stance, however, which possessed
thousand times greater activity, scien-
fists estimating that it will throw off
particles with velocity sometimes
reaching 10000 miles second. This
substance is radium. e ~
So much has been written regarding
its wonderful properties that it is not
necessary for me to detail them here. |
1t might be proper, however. to men |
ton some of the peculiar effects 1t has
upon the nervous centers of human |
beings and animals. as indicating the
extreme caution with which the Curies |
were obliged to pursue their in
quirfes. A glass tube containing one |
or two milligrams of radium will when |
carried in the waistcoat pocket produce |
a painful wound, requiring months to |
heal. Tubes of radium placed in con-
tact with the necks of guinea pigs kill |
the animals in few hours. Professor |
Curie says that it would probably be |
death to man to enter a room con-
tanning pound of the wonderful min
eral. Each week reveals startling adj
ditions to its weird properties. and
scientists are now beginning to ask |
themselves If Nine. Curie has not in
radium discovered perpetual motion.
The talented Frenchwoman bears her
honers modestly and insists that her