FACTS ABOUT RADIUM

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 3 September 1913, Page 7

FACTS ABOUT RADIUM

INTERESTI NG DEVELOPMENTS

Possibly there may be as much as an ounce and a-quarter of radium, all told, m the world. This is the estimate of the United States Bureau of Mines, as stated in a press" bulletin. To persons v.ho are to'measure mineral products by the ton this does not sound' lik-j ." large'quantity, but its value is little less than £600,000, so that it i* by no uieans despicable. A large part of the pre from which this comes is believed: to be from I the United. States, but all of it is worked up in Europe. In fact, until recer.r.Ty it I was not certain that 'he carnotite ores exported from Colorado were used for this purpose, but an investigation .made in Denver seems to have established'" this fact, which is not altogether creditable to American industry and ingenuity. Ra- '< dium institutes have been established in ! Austria, France, Germany, and England, a European science and industry have I been developed from American ra- ! dium. and even tha uranium present with the radium lias manufactured into marketable condition only in foreign countries and returned in finished condition. The price of radium "salts varies somewhat. In large quantities it has been £12,000 per pram for both radium chloride ahdi radium bromide, although the latter contains less nietalii.c radium in proportion- to its weirht than the farmer. It "should- be remembered, therefore, that it is •advantageous to radium chloride.'than radium bromide. In small quantities the average price has been £I6.CCO per gram, which about £450.000 an ounce. applications of radium are still too little understood to admit of definite statement. Its discovery and marvellous properties have already changed' our ideas regarding the constitution of matter, -and- scientific in-vestigation-will un loubtedly lead to valuable result" which we'can not now even foresee. AltoGreth-.!i- too many incorrect statements and vague speculations have been placed before the public as to its use in medicine. A recent report of the London Radium Institute and the many article's emanating from minor laboratories- experimenting in the application of-radium to therapeutics all t.enrl to show, however, that it has a. real value, the certain application of which must await further experimentation. In the meantime no credence should be given- to the many stories that are sure to be printed unless they are backed up bv the highest medical authority which •will always give publicity with caution. The best medical authorities appear to agree that, up to the present time radium has not been nroved t<> In specific for any disease, although it has bpen' shown to be ludnful in- many rasps, ard the'outlook for its future application to certain diseases not easily. treated otherwise are decidedly encouraging.