Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-07
BUILD PLANT TO
PRODUCE RADIUM
FACTORY TO BE ERECTED TO
TREAT PlTCHBLENDE
CORPORATION WITH 100000 CAP.
lTAL ORGANIZED
Secret Process Discovered by Sir vii.
liam Ramsay Will Be Used in New
Organization for Manufacturing
Valuable Mineral

LONDON, Nov. 4.-Lady Ramsay a
few days ago laid the foundation
stone OF an enterprise which is ex-
pected to have tar-reaching results in
the medical world. In Thomas street,
Ltmehouse, is to be built a factory
for the manufacture of radium accord
ing to secret process discovered by
Sir William Ramsay, which will, it is
expected, reduce the period of manu-
facture from nine months to six or
seven weeks This is the first COM
pany in the world to attempt the pro-
duction of radium on a commercial
basis.
The erection of the factory is a
sequel to the discovery of pitchblende
ore made by Francis Fox about two
years ago at the TrenWith mine of the
st. Ives Consolidated Mines company.
Mr.. Fox consulted Sir William Ram
say, who subsequently experimental
with 151 pounds Of high grade pitch
bende concentrate obtained from the
mine with very gratifying results. The
British radium corporation, limited,
accordingly has been formed with q
capital of 100000 for taking over the
radium rights Of the Trenwith mine
from the st. Ives Consolidated mines,
limited. The services of Sir William
Ramsay have been retained and as it
was necessary he should be in constant
communication with the factory a site
was chosen in London for the purpose.
1t is hoped to have the factory COM
pleted and the manufacture Of radium
begun at the end of the present year.
Meanwhile the joint companies are
spending a large sum of money in the
erection of plant at st. Ives, where
the pitchblende ore will be crushed, so
that the material for treatment may
be sent up to London in the more
DOrto h1a form of ponoanfrqfa Or biUb
grade ore. Even in this crude state
radium makes its presence felt and
heavy rubber gloves have to be worn
by those handling it.
Radium Is Scarce
There is only one other radium fac
tory in existence in the world and
that is in Austria, from which the
earlier specimens were obtained for
use in England. Austria, however,
has prohibited the export of the ele-
ment on account of it's scarcity. So
small, indeed. has been the total
quantity of radium which has been
recovered for scientific use throughout
the world that it is estimated not to
exceed a quarter of a pound.
The British Radium corporation will
give preference in the sale of its radium
to British hospitals and scientists, al
though it is expected the production
will be sufficiently large to enable other
countries to benefit. Nowhere will the
increased output of radium be more
appreciated than in the London hospi-
tai, where the total stock is only about
1926 milligrammes; it looks like a few
grains of grayish-white sand. In the
little apparatus used in the Fisen light
process is radium worth $1,000.
While the London hospitals would de-
rive immense advantages from an ade-
quate supply of the element, the new
industry seems destined to cause great
developments in Cornwall itself. The
fisher folk of st. Ives, in their pictur-
esque houses of weathered granite, view
the coming changes with no friendly
eye, for they have no desire to see the
old mines reopened. 1t is certain, how
ever. that ST. Ives will in the near fu-
ture be busy industrial center, and as
the water which passes through the
ore also possesses curative
powers, it is quite possible that Corn
wall may yet see the erection of hydros
for the treatment of certain maladies.
1t is one of the romances of science
that the material which has brought
about this transformation was regard
ed by the Cornish miners as a nuisance,
for it prevented them from obtaining
copper from smelling. They were in
structed to cast it on one side on the
rubbish heap, which grew to noun
heap that the companys men are now
engaged in obtaining large quantities
Of material.
At foundation ceremony there was
large, distinguished company Of scient-
lists. The chair was taken by It. j.
Chollow of ST. Ives, who remarked that
today pitchblende occupied the position
Of being one of the rarest minerals
known, the comparative value of the
crude ore being greatly in excess of the
gold quartz of johannesburg or the
blue ground of the diamond mines.
Sir William Ramsay gave a detailed
history of the work which had already
1een done by scientists and medical
men in connection with the discovery
If radium. The medical results from
he use of radium had up to the pres
mt been extremely encouraging. 1t
lad been found that rodent ulcer could
De cured by it; and with regard to the
reatment of cancer, although the re-
'ults had not been so encouraging as
le would have liked, one case showed
igns of giving good results.