The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1909-01-14
Is IT soLIDIFfED suNIIGuTf

"A. A1 A. 1A1D 49, 49, f#L.I
---- 81
40 One, Not Even MADAME Curte
Knows what Radium Really lis.
The radiam market is now practical
~ controlled by France. In fact, tina
country has the only Wholesale radiun
factory is the world. Although no COM
merclal use has yet been discovered
for radIum, despite all that has beel
written to the contrary, the demand
for the subtle, precious element that nc
one understands Is enormous. Ever.
scientist in the world wants his grair
of 1t for laboratory purposes. Patient
researches all over the world are study
ing 1t and applying 1t to different sub
stances In the hope Of discovering new
combinations. Lately, moreover, a fur.
ther demand has grown up in a widely
d Weren't quarter. The supposed medi-
cinal or th~erapeutical value of radium,
still a matter of experiment, has in
spired many a former patent medicine
man to mango his labels and buy a
little radium salt to conjure with.
How great is the worlds demand and
how limited the worlds available, sup
pIy may be gathered from the fact that
the present price of radlum is in the
n~eighborhood Of $40,000,o00 a pound.
The big factory at Nogent-sur Marine
turns over tons and hundreds of tons
Of material every year without produc-
ing this quantity. Pure metallic RAJ
dunn, in fact, does not exist. The fac
tory is making the fortune Of Its pro-
pietors by turning out radlum salts
Of greater or less activity. The $40,-
O00, 900 product IL pure radium bro
mide. 1t was radium bromide that Sir
William Ramsay used when he de
z AIDED" copper Il . another metal,
showing that what used to be consider
ed an element was not an element after
all. 1t was radium bromide also that
Prof. Bordas used to change a cheap
white corundum into a red ruby OF
price, to darken the blue Of a sapphire
and to bleach an emerald.
Fresh radium experiments are being
made daily in the laboratories Of the
Sorbonne by Nine. Curie and her disci-
ples, but the great secret remains I'M
solved. No one knows what radium is,
not even in the radlum factory OF No
gent-sur-Marne.
After a visit to the factory the un-
scientific person will leave with a doubt
In his mind as to whether radium Is q
substance or a quality. To speak of a
pound OF 1t is like speaking Of a pound
OF sunlight. At the factory, as else
" ere, its presence is a radium salt
q bromide or chloride or ~sulphate--is
measured In terms of activity. The ra-
dio-active salts are obtained through
out a wide range of activity. Whole
carloads OF raw material are gradually
reduced, by crushing and washing and
boiling, by acid baths and crystaliza.
ton, until the radIo-activity that was
once disseminated throughout the car
load is imprisoned In a tiny lump of
something worth a thousand times its
weight In gold.
The radium experts in the factory at
Nogent-sur-Mar are kept busy with
Q host OF interesting experiments. The
process OF producing radium bromide
is not a rapid on~e--four or five months
being necessary for the series Of baths
and reaction just described-so they
have plenty of leisure on their hands.
I } radio-activity If all sorts Of ma
trial is being patiently investigated.
1t was recently discovered that the wa
tiers Of many curative springs In va
rious parts Of Europe, notably In Bo-
hemia, are highly radioactive. 1t is
now believed by some scientists that
these waters owe their beneficial quail
Ia to the presence of radium. Just
what the curative value Of radium
a.nounts to has not vet been definitely
decided. Unfortunate ~guinea-pigs are
crifced by the hundreds In the quest
for the truth.
Radium itself remains as weird and
elusive as 1t was the day of It's dis
9 very. Many eminent scientists are
as full of doubt about II az :he unset
P.tiic visitor TO the factory at Nogent
-whether 1t is quality or substance.
matter or motion, electricity condensed
Of solidihed sunlight. In the meantime
the quest goes on and France has given
birth to a new and iourishing industry.