Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1904-03-30
PROPERTIES
Of RAD|UM
Ansricas Authority q Subject
Tells Attributes Of Wen
derful New Discovery
OF FABULOUS VALUE
Excellent Specimens Of Metal %
he Found In Rocky Noun
tains

III. william u Hammer a New
York city, Americas recognized au,
thority on radioactiyity. in . lecture
Ii Denver. said.
.Radium "a known as . metal. but
Il il not found In metallic form. II Il
generally made IN the form Of : chlor'
ide o. bromide. which lasts indefinite
b, without chemical change o. loss in
weight Professor Henry Becquerel.
father Ok rAdioactivity. says that 2
square centimetcr. which II squat to
Obs Of an Inch square. would lose
only 1000 Of . miligram IN 1000. 600
years. Hs IL the d%iscoverer ~ the
Becquerel rays. Different from ordin.
ary or reflective light he noticed Il
coming from salts Of uranium. and
called II uranium rays. but since thcn
has found the rays coming from other
substances. the most interesting Of
which Ii radium. He made the discov.
cry In 1896, after tho discovery Of the
Roentgen rays. Professor and Mime.
Curie discovered plonium In 1898 and
DeBicrnc discovered actinium In pitch.
blende I year later. Pitchblende Is a
complicated mineral. containing sev.
sral oxides. The best Of Il Is found
III Joachmstahl, Bohemia, hut Profess
nor and Nine. Curie have written ms
that they cannot secure any more
there and wan other samples. The
Germans and Anstrians control the
market Of the Bohemian material, and
have excluded the French from It's
benefits.
y have recently sent samples OF
American pitchblcndc 10 them and 70
Professor Becquerel, including excel.
Tent specimens from Colorado. Radi-
um ia expensive because II Is so diff
cult TO get out Of the pitchblende. The
latter has been used fot years 10 get
the uranium which II used In staining
glass. porcelain dishes and steel. For
years tho residue Of the uranium ore
has been thrown away. It Ia from this
residue that radinm Is obtained. Urani-
UNI Is said TO BIO worth $1,000 a pound.
Up TO recent date all radlum Of high.
or radioactiyity than 1000 has been
retained for the experiments OF the
Cnrie's and their associates. but I re-
celyed q letter recently from Director
r. Boulay of The societc Centrale. III
which | was informed that they viii
shortly put upon the market q prepa
ration Of radium, chemically pure 81
nearly 20. at a cost or $4,000 per gram
or s2,721, 555. 80 per pound. ] have
since been Informed, however, that
the price has advanced ten times over
so that the price would be In the
neighborhood OF s27. Ooo. 900 a pound.
II now requires 5000 tons OF ura
MUM residue q manufacture q.
pounds OF radium, and then the latter
will not be chemically pure, The cos
Of handling the residue Is $1,000 /
ton, Or si0.0ooo0o 10 produce one Xix
Of 20 pounds.
But anything that has as much In
hcrent virtue ms radium Is destined 4
become immensely popular CONNER
cially.
"A conservative estimate places III,
value OF radium az between $4,000 ans
10000 times the value OF pure gold,
The principal field for radium is II
the treatment Of disease. rs far al ",
know. II has been shown that NJ
rays destroy heterogeneous and
has been used successfully In III,
treatment ~ cancer. tumors. tnbercu
iosis of the skin. etc.
There is u great danger in hand
ing radium. Professor curie told m,
that he would not trust himself In
With a kilo n radium. bccaus,
IL would burn the skin Off his bod.
and destroy his eyesieht. He sal
that nj gram ZONE gram equal
015i3 Of a grain1 would destroy III
life Of every person in Paris IL the
were properly exposed 70 4. While !
kills heterogeneous, Il can be use
10 prolong life MS well.
One year ago last January ! VA
In Washington At a meeting 81 ID
American Association for the A,
ysncement OF Science. took eigi
tiny tubes OF radium. wrapped in lea,
sealed, then wrapped IN cotton, place
In q good box, and the box wrapped
cotton. under my arm TO walk up n
street. The rays Of the rafium pen
trated all the wrapplngs. went throug
all my clothes and burned the whcl
ride Of the trunk OF my body. TIL