The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-03-05
From Tid-Bits.

@ HERE are fortunes waiting for (CU neople who can provide the new
 ly founded Royal British Radium institute with supplies of the famous new element, which is worth something ike 5000 times its weight in gold. And the most amazing feature of radum is that It can be produced from material whlch up to now has been valueless.
 Radium. as is now generally known, Is extracted from pitch -blende, mineral from which uranium-a rare metal, of col or like that of nickel-is also extracteo' Hitherto, however, after the uranium had been extracted from the pitch-blenoe the residue was thrown away as valueless' al though it is from this residue that ra7 dium can be extracted. Certainly many tons of pitch-blende have to be handled before a few grains of radium can be found. As the thousandth part of grain however is worth about 916, the lapor IS not without it's compensation.
 Until lately one never dreamt that the residue of pitch-blende, after the chem ical treatment extracting uranium con tained absolutely the source or radiuhi' and some years ago the company WHICH owns the mine in Cornwall from which a very large part of the worlds supply of nitch-blende cannes actually paid shil- lines pence a ton to have more than loo tons of residue carted away and tipped on waste heaps on stepney building land
 .I would gladly" says the secretary Of the company. give e5oOO today 70 recover that waste pitch -blende. l do not know where it is now, but some workmen are living over radium beds and do not know it."
 As a matter of fact. there are many other people in London living over hio- den mines of this precious element De- sides the workmen of Stepney. we'll known city firm of analytical chemists and metallurgists threw away. Tor 70 years. the by-products obtained rom pitch- blende in the process of extracting uranium, Hundreds of tons of this dis osrded "refuse'' were carted away and used for leveling and laying out roads and for filling in the foundations of houses.
 And this 9 years accumulation of ra- dium must still be in existence, for the element is indestructible. At the dining tables of many old families in England, too, there are used wine glasses and or naments in the manufacture of which ra- dium, to a certain extent, entered All ways a rather costly kind of ware, it will now be appreciated more than ever. The use of uranium for this purpose has long been discontinued in favor of cheap CT methods.
 Although pitch-blende exists in large quantities in Cornwall, where efforts will now be concentrated with a view to in creasing the supply of and cheapening ra- dium, 1t is in Bohemia where the largest supplies are to be found, and the earliest specimens of radium used in this country were obtained from Austria. But the Austrian government, recognizing the scarcity of the new element, prohibited it's exportation.
 Last year three grammes of radium were produced in the laboratory of the University of Vienna--the greatest quan- tity yet produced; this necessitateo the treatment of 10 tons of pitch-blende' and thy generously lent Sir Wilnam Ramsey half gramme to experiment with in recognition of the valuable work carried ont by the English scientist in connection with radiur.
 Some wonderful cures have been brought about by the use of radium although the experiments have naturally been some what limited on account of It's scarcity. For external growths radium Is wonder fully efficacious Not only can port wine stains and moles be cleared away by the use of radiurn, but also tumors and ul-