Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-12-21
War Depletes Radium
So Needed in Surgery
By Frederic J. Haskin

Washington, ID. c., Dec. 20-War,
according 10 government experts, has
resulted in a serious depletion OF our
supply of the most valuable substance on
carth-radi,Im. Reports that great
new deposit had been discovered in
Colorado proved To be utterly Infounded
Radiurn has been used extensively AS
material Of war not as might be sup-
posed, in treating sick and wounded sol
diers. but in the form Of luminous paint
ON gun sights, aviators Instruments, ana
the ubiquitous officers wrist watch.
The greater part of the radlum now
being extracted is used IN making luminous
dials for watches, says the Geological Sur
vey The amount of raditrn that adorns
the face Of one Of these watches Is IN
conceivahly small R2iitun costs about
500 millograrn. and a watch dial carries
ton cents worth But 20O, 900 luminous
faced watches are manufactured yearly
bv one firm alouo Add TO the thousands
OF luminous watches placed on the market
the many other Instruments which must
be visible in pitch darkness. and which
draw heavily on the radiuu1 supply, and
large proportion of the three and three
quarters ounces of radium IN existence ~
accounted for
SURGERY SUPPLY SHORT
asaresult Of this reckless use Of radi,irn
there is little available for surgery, which
is generally acknowledged as the field IN
which radurn can render its greatest ser
vice This situation will IN short time
be changed The cessation Of fighting has
lessened the speed Of airplane construo-
tion with It's attending demands ON
luminous paint.
Also. mnsothoriurn. an element Mn1iisr
to radun, has been called into tlse- Tn
like radurn. which is the product Of ores.
rnesnthoriurn is extracted from . kind of
sand H. was reported recently that
mrsothorium had been discovered IN the
United States As matter Of fact the
radioactive properties OF nonazite sand
were understood in Brazil twelve years
ago. and geoiorists of the United states
have long been aware Of it's existence IN
this country.
The man who discovered the existence
Of neaothmium in sand IN Brazil wished
IN keep his discovery secret IN order TO
monopoIize the profits His scheme was
tn ship the sand 70 German buyers, send
ing it as common ballast. On one tr1p
the ship became damaged, and was IN
danger Of sinking When the captain
ordered the ballast thrown ont, the cargo
owner VINO WAS afrftf1 FpJtT1bttAt III XIX
that some other weight be sacrificed
His attitude aroused Suspicion The ship
and ballast were saved, but. unfortunately
for the owner Of the precious sand, ms
ballast was examined and his secret spread
broadcast. with the result that the Bra
zilian govern ment took hand in exploit
ing its newly found resource.
VERY LIKE RaprUx
Nesothorium is extremely like rsdl'Inn
in character and effect. II differs manly
in It's life Radiuun reaches its full power
in thirty DAYS and IN two thousand years
that power would diminish only one
half Mesothorium. on the other hand.
takes year to gain It's full strength, At
which time IL is as powerful as radlun,
| but in five and one-haif years its strength
| is almost gone As the life Of the average
Iunino,ls-diaI watch Is less than FIVE and
one-haif wears meSothorum IS salts
factory substitute for radIum for thus
purpose.
II is an interesting TACT that the rsdium
on dial would really last for nearly two
thousand wears. II would not be recog-
nizable. however after a few years. as the
ZINC sulphide, which is mixed with the
radilun to enable il to give forth It's light,
would gradually disappear. The raditIrn
deDcsits on worn out watches and lnstru-
ments could be used again II there we're
anv wav OF collecting q sufficient number OF
the articles TO warrant the trouble and ex-
pense OF separating IT.
Detecting the presence Of radIurn IS
comparativelv simple It Is done by 8
small but complicated instrument which
indicates the proportion OF rsdlum IN
piece OF ore. Not all ore containing ra-
dunn is worth the trouble OF extracting
the element Radium is present IN all
carnotite ores, but the amount, geolOpsts
are fond of explaining. IS often SIS slight
as the amount Of gold in the water OF the
ocean. Both radlum and gold are there,
but to extract them at Il pront IS lmpos-
slbIe
COSTLY TO SEPARATE.
Even when ore rich enough in rsdIum
To warrant excavation IS located, the cost
of separating the radium IS great. For
one part of radium III this ore there are
3. 600 600 parts OF other substances, and
it takes eight carloads OF chemicals TO
treat one ton of ore. The ore IS treated
with acid to dissolve the uranium and
yenadium present From the acid solu-
tion, the radium Is preclpltated, and then
collected IN much smaller bulk, dissolved
and UTeCITItaIe0 a1ilil Sever n l1AlCS tAIAtA4
It is reduced to form OF salts. It Is
usually kept and used in this form, stored
in easing of lead 10 protect articles IN
the vicinity from the effects OF the rays,
The chief medical uses Of radium so
far tested have been III treating ca=ser,
tumors and birthmarks. Some cures have
been effected, some cases have been help
el only. Even if radlum only alleviates
the pain of cancer it Is, IN the opinion Of
MANY doctors, blessing A plausible
explanation of the apparent failure Of
radium to have any notable effect on some
cancer cases Is that radium was tried as
last resort when the disease was SO far
advanced that nothing could cure 1t, and
when the general physical condition OF the
patient was 50 weakened that It could not
respond to the treatment.
One drawback in the exploitation of
radium as a cancer cure is the fact that
ordinarily cancer is a poor mans disease,
caused BY undernourIshment. overwork
or some other abuse Of the body But
radum has never been a poor man $
remedy.
Five or SIX years ago Secretary Lane
of the Department of Interior suggested
government ownership or direction OF
: