Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-11-30
CITY RAD|UM CLINIC
7OBE OPENED TODAY
Mayor and Distinguished Sur
geons to Attend Exercises at
100000 Plant at Hospital
FREE TREATMENTS TO POOR

The clinic for the treatment Of can
cor patients by radium which has been
instituted by the Philadelphia General
Hospital, will be opened this afternoon
by Director of Health Furbush. The
Mayor and large number of distin-
guishcd surgeons will be present.
This clinic will be the center for such
treatment in this city. and its supply
Of the precious element, which is l5O,-
426 times as valuable, as gold, amounts
to two grams or one-fftieth OF the
worlds supply, representing value to-
day of $200,000. =,
Although It is planned TO start with
not over twenty treatments day. 1t IL
expected that The equipment will be de-
vclopcd TO the point where eighty pa
ticnts may br- accommodated daiiE.
ThossA y atients. WHO can afford to do
81 will he charged O nominal sum for
tho treatments, but if the patient s
means arc insufficient there will be no
exncnsc attached. This means a great
advantage to poor patients, who would
not otherwise be able to take the treat
mcnt. Radium cmanations nre ordi-
narily sold at S13 per millecurie. the
standard of measurement of the radio
active gas that is produced by the ra-
dium. and used for the treatment.
Method Of Treatment
Tho method of using the radium Is to
mix it with hydrochloric acid and water,
in which form it is about a wineglass'
ruf of amber colored liquid. This Is
placed in two glass phials and Kept IN
n large lcad-lncd safe.
+ The liquid will not be removed from
this claboratcIy protected safe except
once every year. when it will be in
sreCtcd by four physicians and repre-
sentative Of tho burglar alarm system
which has been installed
The gas cmanations which arc given
nff by this liquid will be pumped from
the safe by special apparatus costing
$40 900 with all it's mcchanisms. The gas
will PASS through n glass tube heavily
shcathcd in >lcad, and then through
successive glass tubes in which it will
be purified. Thence it passes through
mercury filed bulbs and is collected in
n long. fine tube hardly thicker than a
hair.
This tube Is separated from tho ap-
parntus by gas fame and then further
divided into small sections less than an
inch in length. each containing guam
tty of the radio active gas. These small
tube lengths are the ones actually used
in the treatment.
They arc placed in n silver tube.
measured for the strength Of their
cmanations. and applied to the affected
part, wrapped in cotton gauHc.
In course of time the liquid, which
cmanatCd go millccuries of gas on the
first day, will produce so much of the
gas that the lattcr's value will total
more than that Of the original radium
Operator Is Protected
The apparatus which operates, the
mercury pumps by which the gas is
conveyed from the safe is protected
from the powerful rays by heavy leaG
screen, without which the operator
would suffer serious burns if long OK,
posed.
! The present supply of radum vii
| give on Cmanations for more than a
| thousand years. Ono days acCumula .
| tion 50 far was worth $3.50.
/ 1t is not the intention Of the authnri
tics to apply the radium treatment tr
/ every case of cancer, but merely tc
those classes Of cases in which the bcs
results arc to be expected.
The staff which will administer tht
| treatments includes: DR.. Charles Nor
ris, DR.. Jay +. Schanbcrg, DR.. JOIN
+. CarnPtt, Dr. Henry *. Pancoast
/ ir. j. l.. Wcathcrwax, DR.. T.. +
! Krumbhaar and DR.. Robert A. Brad,
| ley.