Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1905-06-23
CLAIM A CANCER CURE
Solvent Radium Declared to Be the
Long-SouGht Remedy.

Solvent Radium Declared to Be the
Long-Soueht Remedy.
Has it been found at last, a potent
remedy that will cure that curse of the
human race, cancer? It would seem so,
judging from the great success attending
the Fadium treatment, as demonstrated
at the Flower hospital in New York
City by DIR. W. Harvey King. The bene-
fetal results obtained by the radium and
A-ray treatment as applied in the case of
DR.. William r. Harper, president of the
University of Chicago, also tend to con-
firm the belief among members of the
medical fraternity that the remedy for
conquering this loathsome disease has
surely been discovered, and future OPP
erations will be noted with the keenest
interest.
Among those who witnessed DR..
Kings operation, and listened to his ex-
planatio of the treatment were DR.. Will
liam Tod Helmuth and DR.. George W.
Roberts, of Flower hospitals staff; DR..
Edward G. Tuthill, DR.. A. B. Norton,
Dr. Rigby, a woman practitioner, and
Hugo Lieber, chemist who recently an
nounced his discovery of solvent for
radium.
1t was Lieber's discovery that made
possible the present method of applying
radium to the parts affected by can
cerous growth. it has been known for
some time that the new element was pos
sessed of a peculiar property; that of
destroying disease germs without break
ing down living tissues. The difficulty
has been, however, to so apply the rem
edy as to obtain proper results. Lieber's
discovery of a solvent for radium made
it possible to obtain a coating of this
singularly efficient agent upon pencils
of celluloid, thus opening the way for
it's proper application to the affected
area, as was demonstrated to the salts
faction of those who witnessed DIR.
Kings operations, Monday.
DR.. King preceded the operations by
explaining that he had made tests of
radium in tubes and the celluloid PEN
ellis coated with a radium solution, and
that the advantage of the pencils lay in
their greater adaptability. The power
in each method, he said, depended upon
the radio-activity. He also explained
that radium in solution, used as a coating
on pencils, was much cheaper than the
solid substance in tubes.
DR.. King mentioned two cases that
had come under his observation in which
the use of radium pencils had been sue
cessful. One was that of a man who
was treated for cancer of the tongue,
and the other patient who had cancer
Of the foot. in both cases, the doctor
said, the growth had entirely disap-
peared.
He said he would show a case that
had been treated at Flower hospital and
in which marked improvement had re-
suited. The patient was a woman who
had a malignant growth back of the
right ear. DR.. King said that more
than half of the growth had dropped off
since the treatment was begun and that
a complete cure is looked for.
DR.. King said that pencils of radium
are left in contact with the malignant
growth for "a hours in some cases, and
in others for As hours. He said that he
had obtained results of great value and
that similar work is being done in other
hospitals in New York
In the case of DR.. William R. Harper,
whose condition at the time of the oper-
alton a few weeks ago was again crltl-
cal, there seems to be the best of reasons
to expect a complete recovery. The
treatment given DR.. Harper at present
is known as the fuorescent, by which a
solution possessing radium-activity is tax
en- internally and either radium or the
X-ray machine is used to excite the
''liquid sunlight" as it is called. The
treatment will, it is asserted, kill the
cancer cells, checking the growth of the
tumor, and gradually causing it to disap-
pear.
In many cases of superficial cancer
the radium and X-ray treatment have
been beneficial, but DR.. Harper's case
stands by itself, and is being watched
with great interest by the medical pro-
fession.