Evening star., 1937-10-17
CURE Of CANCER
!. BY RAD|UM GAINS
California U. Physicists Gre
4 ate New Salt With
Atom Smasher.
- ths Associated Press.

AkUiII SIiIoSiiCIs
D, the Associated Press.
Ths day when concer may Be
. treated with artificial rsdium dis
solved In . glassful Of water has
approached . step nearer to reality.
Since the discovery Of radium and
x.ray scientists have tried to md
methods Of applying these radiations,
which kill cancerous growths. directly
to them without harming other tis-
sues. In treating some types Of
cancer they have succeeded. but others
have been too deep seated to respond
to these forms Of treatment.
Radium. because Of its rarity and
powerful radiation, could not be fed |
to . person because 1t might become |
lost and do more harm than good. |
And X-rays can be generated only
in . complicated vacuum tube. So |
this approach to cancer treatment |
appeared impossible until recently
&. when a group OF physicists at the
University Of California. under Nobel
Prize Winner Dr. Ernest o. Lawrence,
created radioactive, or radium-like.
salt by bombarding it In their atom
smashing machine. Thus they forged
q new cancer weapon.
Gamma Rays Emitted.
The salt is ordinary table salt,
known to the chemist as sodium
chloride. When it Is bombarded by
atomic particles moving with . power
Of 100000 electron volts, the sodium
is transformed into . slightly heavier
form which then breaks down into
. the related metal magnesium. The
magnesium Immediately emits gamma
rays, the same kind as are given
of by radium, which are destructive
to cancer growths.
When this radioactive chemical was
created the University of California
scientists approached the use Of it
on human beings with even more cau-
ton than William Conrad Roentgen
began to experiment with his newly
discovered X-rays or Marie and
Pierre Curie with radium.
In the current proceedings Of the
National Academy Of Sciences, how
ever. DR.. Joseph g. Hamilton Of the
University OF California Medical
School reports that the new salt
has been used on II persons to study
its effects on normal and diseased
tissues.
No Toxic Effects Observed
1t was first tried on two victims of
leukemia, the cancer-like disease in
which the white blood cells run wild,
and on another patient suffering from
cancer Of the lymph nodes. mo def1-
mite clinical improvement" resulted,
DR.. Hamilton said, and the experiment
might appear as another medical fail
ure. However. he added. mo toxic
effects were observed" and tho expert
menters went ahead cautiously to
study the effects Of larger doses Of
radioactive salt on normal human
beings.
These human guinea pigs, after
swallowing a glassful d water in
which has dissolved the active salt,
begin Shooting OF radium rays from
all parts Of their bodies and continued
to do 80 for 10 hours OF more. II
they took enough Of it they would
undoubtedly glow with ghostly light.
But they would, without q doubt, soon
be dead.
So the University Of California
pioneers IN artificial radioactivity are
now trying to compromise between
the harmless doss and the harmful
one to find the midpoint 1t which
artificial radium viii kill cancer with
out harming the person who has
the disease. Cancer victims In late
stages Of the disease might Be will
ing to offer Themselves as patients
in the hope Of cure, but the Cali
fornia experimenters warn that they
are not yet ready to try the treatment
on any large scale. They are only
now feeling their way toward what
they hope may Be . new treatment.
Fever Treatment Advanced.
Use Of fever to treat another fever
was advanced A = likely treatment
IN another outstanding medical re-
port OF the week by DR.. Walter J.
zeiter Of the Cleveland, Ohio, clinic.
The disease treated, Dr.. Zeiter de-
clared, was undulant fever, generally
contracted by drinking raw milk Of
COWS or goats. Tho same bacteria
p which causes contagious abortion In
these animals causes the fever in hu-
man beings. 1t lis now recognized a
widespread and fairly prevalent" hu-
man ailment, he added. but methods
for its treatment arc still somewhat
uncertain"
Undulant fever can Be successfully
treated by giving the patient malaria
or typhoid fever. DR.. zeiter said. or
artificial fever In the heat cabinets
winch have given excellent results
IN the treatment Of advanced syphilis,