The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-10-16

for the future usefu1ness of this agent. But again it must be emphasized that this book deals with scientifically dem onstrated facts; and 1t only re- quires to be recalled that. while radium has been shown to have a field of usefulness in the treatment of SUI perhcia1 conditions: although it may aIlay pain, and has proved of value in connection with surgery, there is no evidence as yet to show that it has other than 8 palliative effect upon deep-seated cancer, On the other hand, as in the case of X-rays. if not used with extreme care, there is ev- cry reason to fear that it may cause the very disease it is being employed to eradicate.
 It is a curious fact that, while the public is apparently radiuTn-mad, and we are fairly submerged in radium literature, mesoth oriurn remains prac- tically unknown. Yet there are those who regard this latter product as equally, if not more, promising in the treatment of cancer, besides being far less costly. and therefore more within the reach of the average physician.
 Because of this extreme scarcity of radium and it's prohi bitive price for all but the very rich. many investigators have been searching for substitute for 1t. Among others is the German scientist Hahn, who has been experi- mentfng with radio-thorium, in the effort to separate 1t from the tforiun minerals. Dr. 5Bainbridge tells of the outcome of his work as follows: ssRa- dio-thorun, which ernits alpha. rays is half transformed in two years. Hahn found that the aIpha-ray activi- ty of thorium, after separation, de- creased at first for some years, then slowly increased againSt the activity of a pure thoriun compound From this he concluded that there must be another product in thorium which is transformed into radio-thorium. He called this supposed product, rneso- thoriun1. The half-value period of this substance is about i've and a half years. Mesothorium does not emit alpha rays, but is transformed into radio-thoriun, which does''
 Of the various experiments in the use of this product and of t41orium x pr. Bainbridge reports a favorable eff feet in about 40 to 50 per cent of the one hundred and twenty cases in which 1t has been tried at the Sa- rnariterhaue at Heidelberg With re- gard to it's use there and under Pin knss in Berlin, he concludes that 'mesothorium' is at least ian eulliva- lent to radtun, and is probably su- perior to 1t in the treatment of super dcial tumors. that it's radiation is equivalent to radiurn radiation and that it is superior to Rotgen radiation with reference to deep action, tdosabiI- ity,' and the mode of application.''
 Another promising adjuvant to sur gerry as measure looking to the pre- vention of recurrence is the use of electricity, after operation, according to the method of Dr. De Keating-Hart, now being tried out at the New York Skin and Cancer Hospital. But as with radium and a long list of other remedies enumerated, fuIguration, as practiced by De Keating- Hart, is eff fective only when used in connection with surgery.
 Here, then. we seem to stand in the solution of the cancer problem Re moval by surgery, if early enough, will eradicate cancer. and as yet it is