Cleveland County herald., 1921-01-20
NEED RADIUM IN
 FIGHT ON CANCER
Movement on Foot to Substitute MeSo-Thorium in Making
 Luminous Materials.
MEDICAL DEMAND IS GREAT
Physicians and Chemists Feel That Everything Possible Should Be Done to Conserve Radlum for
 Therapeutic Purpeses.


 Schenectady, N. Y.-So great is the | demand for radium In the treatment of cancer and various malignant dis 1 eases, that a movement is now on foot for withdrawing 1t as much as possi- ble from the manufacture of luminous dials and other industrial purposes, so that 1t may be employed entirely for the treatment of human ills. How this is being effected was told by pr. Harlan S. Miner, Philadel- 1 phia chemist, who addressed the east ern section of the American Chemical society at Union college in this city. The substance advocated as a sub- stitute Is meSo-thOrium, by-product obtained in the mauufa cture of thori- Em, a mineral which is extensively em- ployed in the manufacture of gas man. tles
 Comes From Brazil and India. The ores from which thorium Is 1 made are imported largely from Bra gil and India, although there is a iiliitCu supply III lIC OlAitCo States. Meso-thorium can be seen at night and therefore is an ingredient of the paint which is used in the mark Ing of clock faces, watch dials and range finders which can be read in the dark. The demand for such ap- pliances in the trenches during the European war greatly stimulated their manufacture both here and abroad and although they are no longer mili tary necessities they have an exten- sive vogue in these days of peace.
 Th0rium is itself radioactive, but is chiefly valuable because when mixed with one or two per cent of cerium oxide and heated It gives out a power ful radiance. It's use is increasing be- cause municipalities are accepting heat unit rather than a candlepower standard for Illuminating gas, and the demand for mantles Is likely to extend. Consequently the facilities for making the by-product mesO-thori- um, which would not be commercially practical of itself, are being augment ed
 Companies which are now mauu- featuring thorium," said Dr. Miner, "have ever since 1914 been develop Ing their outputs of meso-thorium, and there has been special activity along those lines in the last few months. The demand for radium in the treat ment of cancer and for other medical purposes is now so great that both physicians and chemists feel that every thing possible should be done to con serve it exclusively for therapeutic purposes. If radium is kept in the large hospitals and sanitaria for the relief of malignant diseases, it natur- ally will be held intact. The losses f~om its carnations are so slight that 1t can be used for centuries without any aIsreciable diminution in it's properties. As everything Is being done by the medical profession to con- centrate the supply in this way, the consensus is that it should be held where 1t will do the most service to humanity.
 Causes Heavy Loss.
 "If various forms of radium are en- ployed In the manufacture of luminous paint and for other mechanical pur- poses, there will naturally be a heavy loss of the element Watches, clocks W penknives on which radium Is used are likely to be lost mislafd or destroyed, when the supply of the ele- ment becomes so widely distributed that the chances for recovering it would be slight.
 "It happens, however, that there are also manufacturers of luminous mate rials who are in a position to derive both radium and mesO-thorium from certain minerals, and they are inclined to set aside their radium for medical purposes and to use the meso-thorium, which Is chemically identified. with radium, as luminous material. AL though there has been some difference of opinion in the medical profession as to the value of radium in the treat ment of maladies, there is much to fn- dicate that it and radioactive sub- stances generally have an important part in the practice of the healing art.
 Dr. Miner also described at length the uses of other rare earths such as cerium and zirconium in the arts and sciences. He held out the prospect that some of them which hitherto had been imported from Austria and Ger many, could be obtained on limited scale from sources on the American continent.