Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-01-04


milIigrammo, equal 10 $25oo,OVo
an ounce.
This was one of the striking state
ments In very interesting speech de-
livered by Sir William Ramsay at the
foundation Laying ceremony oil
a new radium factory in Limehouse.
an eastern suburb of London. Inc
British Radium corporation, which Is
going to extract radium from pitch-
blende found In the Trenwith mine,
Cornwall, is believed to be the first
company In the world to attempt the
production of the precious mineral on
commercial basis.
A secret process, discovered by Sir
William Ramsay himself. who is chief
consulting chemist to the corporation.
will reduce the period OF manufacture
from nine months to six or seven
weeks. Work in the London factory
VIII start at the end of this year, and
meanwhile a plant has been erected
at st. Ives, Cornwall. where the pitch
blende ore Will be crushed so that the
material for treatment may be Sont UP
To London In the more portable form
OF concentrate or high grade ore. Even
In this crude state, radium makes Its
presence felt, and heavy rubber gloves
have to be worn by those handling 1t,
At the foundation stone-laying cerc-
mony, Sir William Ramsay traced the
progress OF scientific knowledge con-
cerning the nav element from the In
itial experiments of BecQuerel to the
more definite discoveries of NJ. and
Nine. Curle. He then spoke of that
impressive discovery concerning ra-
dium-lf left alone il gives a quantity
of hellum. the transmutation into he
lium taking place spontaneously Ra-
dunn. ho said. Is always changing into
helium.
In the early days, the only available
sources of radium were in Austria
There was some land In Sweden which
contaiped small amount of radium
but not In sufficient quantity to repay
the cost Of extraction.
When the possibilities of the Cornwall
mines were first mentioned. Sir William
confessed. he discouraged the idea
thinking that the demand would not be
great But things have changed since
then. The Royal society. being very
anxious to get some radium. tried to
get 1t from Austria, but the Austrian
government placed an embargo on tho
export of radIum and pitchblende
The Prince of Wales lent his influeace
TO the society's efforts, with the result
that the Austrian government agreed
to Slve 1t half a ton of pitohbiende resi-
dues, which was sent to Paris to be
worked up. Then King Edward took
great interest in the matter. and tho
leadium Institute was formed by Sir
Ernest Cassel and Lord Iveagh.
The total quantity of radium which
has been recovered for scientific use
throughout the world is estimated not
to exceed a quarter Of a pound
Speaking OF the medical uses of IA
1t Is known already that the disease
rodent ulcer has been cured by radium
compounds. It has been tried for can
Ger, but so far the results are not en-
couraging. One case treated by radium
shows improvement. That is as far as
| can go.
'Radium has been found useful In
skin diseases OF course, the whole
subject is just at the beginning. and
the object of the Radlum Institute In
London and similar Institutes through
out the world will be to Investigate the
curative power OF radum more thor
oughly."
Nowhere Will the Increased output of
radium be more appreciated than In the
London hospital. where the total stock
Is only about 1GA milligrammes. 1t
looks like few grains of grayish- white
sand. In the little apparatus used in
the Finsen light process Is radium
worth $1,000
The old-fashioned fisher folk of st.
Ives IN their picturesque huts OF
weathered granite. view the coming
changes with no friendly oye. 1t Is cor
tain. however, that ST. Ives will in the
near future become a busy Industrial
center. and as the water which passes
through tho pitchblende ore also pos
sesses curative powers II Is quito POSI-
bic that Cornwall NAV vet see the crec-
ton of hydros for the treatment OF
certain maladies.-New York Sun