The Cordova daily times., 1918-09-12
GREAT SCARCITY UT RAD|UM IS
 FELT BY ARMY

CRIPPLE CREEK, Colo, Sept 12.-I A shortage of radium was forecast by , pr. Richard B. Moore of the United States bureau Of mines in an address 1 ke delivered here recently before the 1 meeting of the American Institute of | Mining Engineers. Radum is largely l being used on the faces of watches l and clocks and for other similar pur. ! poses. the speaker said.
 Tt is d great pity that our supply | l C radium is being disseminated in ! l this manner" said Dr. Moore. But i as the physicians and surgeons of the | country are not purchasing enough l. Cial success, 1t is natural that the manufacturers should take other ! means of creating q demand. The | i day is not far distant, in my judg- ment, when we shai greatly regret | the radium that has been lost in this | way.
 "Radum has q most decided use fitness at the present time; nine in | struments used on airplanes have Gials made luminous with radium ! paint; it is employed in the same manner for cOmpasses and gun sights. | The efficiency of night firing, with . beth machine guns and artillery, has . been greatly increased by the use of these luminous sights. Other uses . can not be specified at the present time in a public paper.
 Tt is difficult to estimate the exact . amount of radium in existence at the . ! present time; probably it is some where around three ounces of radum element. Considerably more than half the amount of radium now in | existence has come from Colorado and Utah carnotite ores
 "SiX years ago the engineers of the bureau of mines estimated that at the current rate of production the depOs- it's might last, commercially, ten or eighteen years. At the present time 1t is very difficult to obtain ore. Most ! of the deposits are owned by five op- erating radium companies. The pro- duction has increased very greatly during the war. and am very doubt full whether we can depend upon our carnotite deposits to yield commercial quantities for more than six or seven years longer IL is my judgment that the fields will not produce more than loo additional grams of radium ele- ment at the most if that much. This . would about double the worlds pres ent supply; but on account of the large use of radium in cancer treat ment. such an amount. although large scientifically. would be small in pro portion to the probable demand
 "One way of preventing the dis semination and loss of radium Is 10 provide a substitute. Mesothorium is an excellent substitute in many ways Its half-lfe period is much shorter than that of radium. When first pre- pared. it gradually increases in ac tivity comes to a maximum. and then begins to lose it's activity. After "ripenng" for about year after be. ing prepared it can be used for lumi rOus paint just as efficiently as ra- dium. It's usefulness for such pur rose will last for four or five years, which is as long as is required for cheap watches, push-buttons, etc.
 "Mesothorum can be obtained as a Approximation in the treatment of mo hazite sand for the manufacture of thorium nitrate, used in incandescent nantles During the last year the Tinted States bureau of mines has been experimenting along these lines and has developed process which is being put into the largest thorium plant in the country at the present time and it is hoped that before long mesothorium can be substituted for some of the radum that is now being used in luminous products.
 "Mcsothorium can also be used for cancer treatment, although its short life makes it much less desirable for this purpose than radium."
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