The Washington times., 1920-08-02
GIVE new CURE.
TO THOUSANDS.
Precious Grams Of Mystery
Ray" Costing $225,000,
Will Go to Public.

NEW YORK. Aug. 2.-Cancer vic
Tins anywhere in this country will
be privileged TO avail themselves,
without cost, of the two and a quar-
ter grams of radium recently bought
in Washington by New York State.
The Institution for the Study OF
Malignant Diseases, of Buffalo, es-
tablished and controlled by the State,
will receive for treatment. beginning
October Is, all sufferers from this dis
ease not officially designated as be-
yond known cure. Residents OF this
State will receive preference, although
others will not be barred.
STATE PAID s2c5 900
The Significance of the announce
ment. made In this city by Harvey
r.. Gaylord, director OF the institution,
will be seen from the fact that the
smallest amount of radium purchas-
able by private physician would
cost $12,500, DIR. Gaylord said, results
will be announced as soon as the e1-
pertinent is under way.
simultaneously with the announce
ment, DR.. Gaylord, indicated that
other States will soon follow suit. Ili-
nois, he said, has evinced great In
toTeSl III INC ~
ernor Lowden is expected to consider
a similar enterprise shortly.
Aside from the statement, which
follows, DR.. Gaylord told reporters
that in his estimation the time had
come when the control Of so valuable
and rare therapeutic agent as
radium should pass into the hands Of
the Government. At present, he said,
1t is privately exploited.
The formal statement follows:
"The experiment in State owner
ship of therapeutic agent as ex-
emplified. in the purchase of this
radium FOR social utility, will have
far-reaching effect. This is develop
ment of State medicine to which no
one can object, and Governor Smith de-
serves the thanks of the State for
what he did.
MINED IN, COLORADO.
"The radium we are using is an
American product, mined in Colorado,
brought 1900 miles across the conti-
nent in the form of 125 tons of carno-
tite ore to the extraction plant at
Orange, N. J., where it is reduced by
fractional capitalization to its pres
ent State. The first purchase by any
State of radium marks step in the
health activities Of an American Com
monwealth. Up to the present we
have had no therapeutic agents so
expensive that they could not be af-
forded by the average practitioner.
In the case Of radiun that condition
arises The unit for efficient use costs
not less than $4,000 and represents
100 milligrams. A gram is worth
$12O.OO0.
"The state of New York, which in
1898 took the lead by founding the
first modern research in cancer in the
\ world, should properly be the first
State to appropriate the necessary
amount for the purchase of a sufh-
cient amount of radium for the use
OF it's citizens, having available for
this purpose a center of cancer knowl-
edge and fully equipped scientific
search where its use can be made i'm
mediately effective and from which
scientific progress can be confidently
anticipated.
"The usefulness of radium in the
treatment of neoplasms is still in its
infancy, but there are already certain
kinds of cancer in which its use
offers advantages and the results OBJ
tanned are an improvement upon any
means we have heretofore possessed.
1t must, however, be remembered
that our main reliance in the treat
ment of cancer is surgery, but
radium in combination with surgery,
frequently greatly Improves tHe pIoS-
pect of cure.
METHOD ADDS TO USEFULNESS.
"The scientific development of the
last few years in the use OF radium,
largely through the work of Prof.
Duane of Harvard University, made
available a means of using radium
which had immensely strengthened
its usefulness. This method iS the
use of the emanation of radium in
place Of the application of radium it
self. This method is only available
when you have at least one gram.
The staff and the cost of maintenance
remain the same no matter how
great or how small the amount.
Cancer to-day is the second most
important disease in the United
states. 1t increases % per cent.
every ten years. In the United
states 10000 deaths occur yearly
from it, being of equal Importance
to tuberculosis. In New York State
about 5000 deaths occur yearly.
The purchase Of the radium has
other significance than merely its use