The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1904-02-04
RADtUM AND IT'S WONDERS.

:, Radium-a name to conjure with,
a substance to observe with awe and
handle with caution-perhaps the
most wonderful discovery Of the age
and the greatest boon to mankind in
centuries Such is the opinion of
chemists, scientists, medical men, all
who have interested themselves in the
new metal which the scientific world
has been experimenting with ever
since it was discovered some time ago.
Almost everything is claimed for it,
from marvellous powers of destroying,
staying, and even creating life, to all
sorts of chemical wonders Great
values are placed upon it because of
ITS rarity and the demand for it that
has sprung up suddenly because Of its
powers, medical and otherwise.
But what is radium, the wonderful,
the elusive? 1t is metal and in the
form in which experiments are made
it is whitish powder the miunte
particles of which are chryst of
chloride of radium or bromide of ra.
dunn. 1t is obtained by long series
of chemical processes from various
ores, uranium having proved the most
prolific thus far and in spite of the
fact that scientists have been employed
for some time getting it, the estimates
are that not more than couple of
ounces of the metal have yet been OBJ
tanned
At present the process of extracting
radium from the ores il an extreme
ly lengthy one, involving treatment
after treatment, with various chemi-
Gals, in various ways, until finally
from ton of ore is obtained after
months of work a tiny pinch of the
chloride that could be held on the ex-
treme point of pen-knife Chemists
are experimenting with the end in
view of shortening and thereby cheap
ening the process of radium manu-
facture. There are radium works in
lvry France, which, after two years,
have accumulated a little over a
third of an ounce of radlum by the
use of various processes, boiling the
ore with acids, filtering decanting,
disabling, crystalizing, etc. 1t is
now reported that company has been
formed in one of the Western States
for the production of radium is a
newly discovered process from certain
ha 40
mand for the metal continues science
will find some quicker and cheaper
way of obtaining it,
But the marvels OF radium have
nothing to do with the difficulty with
which it can be obtained A tiny
particle of the substance has powers
almost incredible. 1t is possessed of
superabuDdance OF energy which it
diffuIes into space by radiation. This
radiated energy takes effect in various
ways. 1t produces heat in other sub
stances and also imbues those sub
stances with radio activity. Every
schoolboy knows that he can make
a temporary magnet of his knife blade
by rubbing it on magnet. So it is
with radium. A substance, as piece
of another metal left for time in the
reach of radium s action, will become
possessed of the properties of radium
and will retain them for longer or
shorter time according to the sub
stance and the care taken of it,
Experiments with radium upon
human beings have as yet been some.
what limited, because Of the attend
ant dangers, though it is already as
serted that cancer and lupus pa
tients have been cured by it's use.
permanent or not the time has been
too short to make certain, but it is
certain that they look like absolute
cures" to quote a medical authority.
The substance is a dangerous one to
use, as its power is so great and yet
exerted without making itself mani
fest in any way except by the effects.
At the Pasteur institute, Paris,
probably the most extensive expert
ments have been made. There, vari-
Gus animals, mice, chickens, grubs.
pigs, rabbits, etc. have been subjected
to the influence of radium in varying
quantities and for varying times
Under different conditions the effects
varied from loss of fur and skin of tn,
animals and subsequent death, tt
stimulation OF growth and health
Some experiments we'll vounhed fol
amount to creation of life Will,
another amounted to the continuation
of life. Larvae of -four worms wer,
made to live as larvae for more thai
two months, while in the same tim
several generations of the -four worm
under natural conditions had beef
Matched, grown into worms, change,
to moths and died. The results O
the experiment correspondent to tn
keeping of child of ten years in tn
Same stage of physical deyelopm en-