Bisbee daily review., 1914-02-24
WAS DR. BELL FIRST ID SUGGEST USE 0F
 RAD|UM FOR CANCER !
Famous Inventor Wrote a P Letter in 1903 Advising Im-
 bedding of Mineral in Tissue

WASHINGTON. Feb. Washing. ton physicians are wondering if Dr. Alexander Graham Bell. the inventor of the telephone and former Presi. dent of the National Geographic So ciety, was not the first person to sug. gest the imbedding of radium in bod fly tissue as curative agent for deep-seated cancers. They have dis. covered a copy of Science" of July 3l, 1903, in which is letter written by Dr. Bell to pr z. T. Sewers, of Washington dated July 21, 1903. which they believe to contain the first suggestion for the application of ra- dium in the way that the most re- cent experiments fin the worlds scien- tiic centers have proved most bene- ficial. The letter also appeared in the Scientific American of Sept 12. 1903. The letter written in Badieck, N. S., nearly eleven years age, follows:
 Dear Dr. Sommers,
 q understand from you that the Roentgen X-Rays and the rays emitted by radium. have been found to have marked curative effect upon exter- nal cancers. but that the effects upon deep-seated cancers have thus far proved unsatisfactory. 1t has oc- cured to me that one reason for the unsatisfactory nature of these latter experiments arises from the fact that the rays have been applied external ly, thus having i5 pass through healthytissues of various depth in orsier to reach the cancerous matter.
 ''Tae Crooks tube from which the Roentgen rays are emitted is, of course, too bulky to be admitted into the middle of the mass Of cancer. but there Is no reas-n why a tiny fragment of radium sealed up in a fine glass tube should not be in serted into the very heart of the cancer, thus acting directly upon the diseased material Would 1t not be worth while making experiments along this line?"
 Dr. Somers reply follows:
 Dear Dr. Bell,
 "The suggestion which you make in regard to the application of the ra dium rays to the substance of deep seated cancer l regard as very valu able. If such experiments should be made. | have no, doubt they would provesuccessful in, many cases where we HOW have failures.'
 When the letters were called to the attention of pr. Bell by physi clans here recently, he modestly de clined to claim that his was the first suggestion. He added, however. that sh;uld an investigation prove this tc be the vase nothing would please him more.
 l While medical men here have not made an exhaustive search 10 find il pr. Bell was the originator of the
 unloading in tissue" idea. they be lieye that actual work along this line did not occur until three or four years later They cite an ayticle. written by pr. William II. Dieffenbach. of New York. in the Medlcai Record cf De cember l3, 1915, in which the earlJ steps in the employment of radium az curative agent are described pr Dieffenbach tells of securing q tube of Iadium bromide of 1,S00,00 actiyit, min 1902 and of additions teing made to this amount later. In 1906. he says solutions of 25,000 activity of radium were dissolved fin gelatine, the ob ject being to use an animal preduc
 es vehicle for disseminating ra dium within tissues by means Of in jections. The physician. one Of thi pioneers in this line, fails to stat exactly when the actual imbedding O the rsdium itself first took place hile they lave not been able to fin' exact date on the, subject, physician
 in the office of the Surgeon Genera of the War Department are of opin ion that pr. Bell'e suggestion was th
 first of its kind to be made.