Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-09-12
WORLDS RAD|UM STORE
FIXED At 3 OUNCES
Ore Probably Will be Exhausted
in Six or Seven Years, En-
ginccrs Are Told.

Cripple Greek, Col, Sept. 4 Short
age of radiurn was forecast by Or. Rich
ard =. Moore of the United States
Bureau Of Mines in an address he de
livered here today before the annual
meeting Of the American Institute Of
Mining Engineers. Radium is largely
being used on the faces Of watches and
clocks and other similar purposes, the
speaker said.
1T is great pity that our supply Of
radirun il being disseminated 10 this man
ner." said DR. Moore "But as the phys
icans and surgeons of the country are
not purchasing enough radlum To make
the Industry a financial success, IT. ~
natural that the manufactures should
take other means Of creating a demand.
The day is not far distant. IN my Iudg
nenf, when we shall greatly regret the
radiun that has been lost IN this way
teRadium has a most decided useful
ness At the present time; nine instruments
used on airplanes have dials made lumIn-
ous with radium paint; II ls employed m
the sarne manner for compasscs and gun
sights. The efficiency Of night firing, with
both machine guns and artillery, has been
greatly increased by the use of these lu-
minots sights Other uses cannot be gpecI-
fed NJ the present time, in public papers
ut il difficult to estimate the exact
amount If radiurn IN existence az the
present time; probably # IS somewhere
around 3 ~ Of radiurn element Consid-
erably more than half the amount u
radiun now IN existence has come from
Colorado and Utah carnotite oroa
"Six wears ago, the engineers 81 the
Bureau of Mines cgtinatcd that n the
current rate Of production the deposits
might last, commercially, 10 or II years
At the present time, IT. is very difficult -
obtain ore Most Cf the deposits are
owned By FIVE operating radiurn conpan-
los The production has increased very
greatly during the war, and J am very
| doubtful whether we can depend upon
our carnotite deposits to yield commercial
quantities Of ore for more than SIX or
seven years longer II Is my judgment
that the fields will not produce more than
| 100 additional grams of radiunn element
! AZ the most if that much This would
| about double the worlds present supply,
| but, on account of the large use of radi-
Urn in cancer treatment, such an amount
although large Scientihcallv would be
| small in proportion n the probable de-
| mand.
Zone way Of preventing the dissennina-
| ton and I0ss Of radium is - provide 2
| substitute Meaothoriun is an excellent
| substitute in many.ways It's half-lIfe
period il much shorter than that Of radi-
UNI When first prepared II gradually IN
| creases in activity, comes to a maximum
and then begins 70 Iose rs activity
After "ripening for about year after
| being prepared, il can he used for umln-
ous paint Just as efficiently as radiun. Its
! usefulness for such purpose wIll last for
/ four or five wears. which is as long as is
required for cheap watches, plLsh-but-
/ tons. etc
seNesothoriun can be obtained as by-
| product in the treatment Of monazlt6
| sand for the manufacture Of thorIun NJ
| trate used in incandescant nantles Dur
| ing the last year. the Z. ;. Bureau q
| Mines has been experimenting along thes'
lines and has developed a process whIcl
is being put into the largest thorinm plan
| in the country at the present time. ana i
| IS hoped that before long nesothoriun
! can be substituted for some uI the radlun
that is now being used IN luminous pro
| ducts.
+tNesothorillm can also he used 10
| cancer treatment. although rs short lif
| makes il much less desirable for this Pur
! pose than radium.