Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-09-05
RADIUM DEVELOPMENTS
By Frederic J. Haskin.


III By Frederic J. Haskin. II
Radium is the one important COM
modify in the world which has dropped
in price since the war. 1t was listed In
London last month at $1,000 per gram
less than last year. The depreciation
was not caused by any decrease In the
demand for 1t or by any excess In the
supply The demand for years is likely
greatly to exceed the available supply.
The reduced price was due to the fact
that certain private parties, who held
limited quantities, needed the money
and were compelled to sell at sacri-
flce.
The radium was eagerly bought. An
important demand is from the medical
department of the British army wnich
is anxious to secure a sufficient supply
for its hospitals to supplement the uses
to which it has already been applied by
the Radium Institute of London; ha-
dunn is being used successfully IN
treating rheumatism developed among
soldiers from exposure in the trenches.
The small supply available prevents as
extensive use of it as is desired for this
purpose.
The production of radium in the Unit
ed States has been tremendously IN
creased within the past year by the
new methods devised by the bureau OF
mines. Those methods have made It
possible to produce radium at a mucn
reduced expense - run fnrg gram m S 0r ns
was produced in this country during
the months of April. May and June at
cost of less than s30.050. This sum IN
cluded the value of the ore. the insur-
of the plant and equipment, the cost OF
the cooperation of the bureau OF mines
and all other expense. The lowest sell
ing price for radium for several years
past has been 100000 per gram. only
about thirty grams are in existence in
the entire world. and the United States
has had less than her share because of
her tardy entrance into the radium re-
f1ning field.
The advantage gained by the reduc-
ton of the cost of production will be
readily recog-
Corner Il Soupht mixed. although,
in Radium Supply. at least it is
not likely to lower materially the SELL
ing price. That is fixed by the demand.
which is constantly increasing. The
radium reduction plants in Germany
have been closed by the war; That ma
ton Is making valiant attempt to
corner every stray atom of radium,
while Russia. France and England are
equally anxious to acquire 1t.
Because of the great European de-
mand. the American hospitals and the
physicians who desire to test the cura-
tive properties of redium must look to
its refinement in their own country.
The National Radium Institute was or
ganized last year for the purpose of in
creasing the radium resources of this
nation. Its president is DR.. Howard
Kelly Of Baltimore. one of the two
treating large numbers of cancers sue
cessfully with radium The institute
has secured Their right to take out one
on ten different carnotite claims. aver
aging ten acres each. belonging to
steel company. 1t has agreed to supply
the sum of $4,000 toward the tech
meal supervision and control of ra-
dunn producing ores in cooperation
with the bureau of mines. the bureau
to supply the expert scientific work.
All of the radium produced by the
efforts of the national institute will
be utilized for scientific work in Amer
lea. Despite some effort to prevent 1t.
several shipments Of American radium
have gone to Europe since the begin
ming of the war. Two commercial COM
panies in this country are now pro-
ducing it.
The most important use Of radium
yet developed is that of curing cancer.
In the opin-
Curinp Cancer ion of many
experts 1T is
Most Important Use. the only gem
uine cancer cure in existence. At the
meeting Of the American Medical As
ISOLATION, held last month in San Fran
cisco. considerable time was given to
the therapeutic qualities of radium,
which are as yet in the beginning of
their development. Cancer is a dis
ease of frightful malignance which has
increased with such rapidly within the
last ten years that physicians are
searching desperately for some definite
cure. While many failures have result
ed from the use of radium. it has eff
fected some seemingly miraculous
cures.
Its value in treating cancer has be-
come SO well established that two
years ago in Germany the kaiser con-
cefved the idea of driving all cancer
out of that country by establishing
ordered different municipalities to ap-
propriate sums varying from $4,000
to 100000 for the purchase of radium
for hospital use.
This action of the kaiser is respon-
sible for the large number of Ger
man hospitals which own small guam
titles of radium and the number of
cases treated with 1t even in small
hospitals. The best results published
have been those of the Samaritan Hos
pital of Heidelberg, where so per cent
of the 100 cancer cases treated were
cured. Only 10 per cent of cures, ac-
cording to medical ethics, are required
to establish the merit of a treatment.
A resume of the cures effected in
different European countries estab-
fishes the belief that radium will abb
solutely heal all skin cancers, and may
frequently be used successfully upon
certain forms of interior growths,
though few go so far as to insist upon
its being a substitute in all cases for
the surgeons knife.
One of the first American surgeons
to utilize radium in treating cancer
was DR.. Robert Able. senior surgeon of
st. Luke's Hospital, New York. He
has been testing 1t in various forms
of cancerous growths with so much
success that he has spent thousands
of dollars from his own pocket in Sc
curing the supply now in his posses
sion. This Is far from being sufficient
for his needs and for several years he
has been constantly in the market to
Increase it.
x X
The most important quality of radium
10 f0 f,,l t.