A RADIUM BANK.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 763, 11 March 1910, Page 11

A RADIUM BANK.

A NEW INSTITUTION OPENED IN \ LONDON. ; FOR THE USE OP DOCTORS. A' response far and away beyond the expectations oven of tho promoters of the scheme (says the "Weekly. Scotsman") has attended the institution in London Of a Radium ' Bank, a place where the ultra-precious element may bo stored in security and hired but to medical men, scientists, and others who wish to use it, but cannot afford tho .£l6 a milligramme which is its present market price; . ■ ''','■ The actual locale of the bank is ultimately to be in the neighbourhood of Cavendish Square—in the heart of "doctorland"—but, for tho present, temporary offices have been opened in Moorgate Street. Here a press representative found himself one of a host of "anxious inquirers" after the modern "philosopher's stone." .' "We have been perfectly amazed," said the manager, "at tho stir that tho announcement has already caused, although it was only made • to-day. I havo been besieged ; all the morning by applicants— principally, of courst, by medical men for whoso use tho bank is being chiefly organised. "As you know the enormous expense of radium is and will be for some time, the great drawback in its use both for medical and scientific For an average operation some fifty milligrammes, are needed, costing about ,£BOO, and it is therefore only at one or two,of tho largo' London hospitals that it can bo used now to any extent. Hire Fee £40 Per Day. . "So a little body of well-known'men have decided to establish ..this bank, from which we shall 'let ouf radium at ,£4O for one day's use of 100 milligrammes, and for each subsoquent day at J per cent, on the value of tho amount used. Securities will;-'of, course, have to be given and it is happily'ono of the characteristics of radium that its faculties are to all intents and purposes inexhaustible. . . ... ■ -:■ . "Apart from getting the' required radium," j continued . the manager, "tho whole thing is supremely.simple. There is no need. of spacious' strong-rooms. .£IOO,OOO worth takes up no moro ; space than a duchess's tiara, and we shall only stock it to the value of .£60,000.' . . ; . "But tho getting it is the- difficulty.' Hitherto the main source has been the pitchblends from .the Joachim Thai Mine, m Bohemia. .This, yields one part, in 3,000,000, but is practically monopolised by Austria. Tho discovery, of radio-active auturiito,. now being worked by an English, company, in the bed of a- stream near Guarda, in Portugal—whore 'miraculous cures' used to happen, not unconnected with the radium—has added to the .supply,,but not to a very cheapening extent.. "So far as England itself is concerned, there are two Cornish mines that have yielded a little, but the whole available

supply of pure radium is limited; owing to the enormous difficulty of extraction. Although -radium • exists in air, sea-water, and almost everywhere, thero is hardly a pure ounce in the world. Undoubtedly ono of tho first things that we shall have to do is to set a,bout finding now sources of supply. "As to our bank, it will bo organised very much after the model of the similar institution in Paris, through which- most of the radium used in, England has:hitherto come, and of other radium banks which aro being established .in New York, Berlin, and Vienna. We have plenty of capital already, and shall not appeal to tho'public. Among those particularly interested are . Sir Alfred ' Turner, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, Sir William Holland, General Polc-Carcw, and. Sir David j Salomons." , Its Medical Efficiency. While giving these details the manager laid before tho representative some tiny test-tubes—the sizo of a tin-tack—contain-ing each ,£l6 worth of radium itself, and with them some chunks of greenish crys-tal-bearing rock which represented the radium ' ore from, Guarda in its rough state. The presence of radium ~isj by the way, easily proved by the nbility.of each piece of rock to photograph itself in a dark room,by merely being laid on to a sensitive plate. : "There.cau be no gainsaying, said the . secretary of tho London Hospital, "that we have found the use of radium effeciivo in numberless instances of rodent ulcers. For these we regularly'use it, pur supply, coming direct from Mme, Curie, in Paris., I fear, however, that as yet the much-hoped-for cure of • cancer can hardly be claimed. There hive undoubtedly! been instances, where in early -stages of the disease a surgical operation followed by the application of radium has had encouraging results. But one must not go beyond hope. It would be cruel to pretend more.--As regards tho use of .radium .by private medical men,-, there is, so far as I,know,. no particular reason: why it ' should not be effectual. Tho method is I very simple, the radium being, as it were, stamped on to the place like a seal. ■