THE COMING OF CHEAP RADIUM.

North Otago Times, 5 December 1908, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE COMING OF CHEAP RADIUM.

' WHAT ]T MAY , DO. j Novel' was the scicnUfio, world so , thrilled as by the discovery,, thici)* or tour years' ago, of a- substance which'appeared to contradict-. the laws of nature,, after they had been , slowly formulated during many centuries of investigation. '. TlHMjimlities of the new substance are so so contradictory, one may say so miraculous, that the ini terest .t'hus aroused was 1 not to be wondered at

( In 1898 Mine.' Curie and, Professor ] Schniidt mado tho simultaneous dis-j . covory that.there were several substances possessing- the quality of radio-activity, and among iheso.weip. uranium, thorium, and several othors of no importance. Urqmuin had long-'beenknown -in-, artistic manufactures. ' It-was also: believed: that it possessed curious radial, pro-,, perties, ;not: considered of ini'porlniice.> i All wcro. tobtiiincd- from . pitch;bleilde, but very soon afler the septi,ration of thorium, both Schmidt amii Mme. Curie found that, there were' 'properties observable in both, us separated from the other elements "with .which these were combined, ''furthermore, mysterious radiations which could not emanate'from thorium' or uranium . : were observed, a"d lengthy experiments and eliminations resulted • in ! the discovery of radium. Up. 1 o the , present, however, the subtlest chemical analysis has not separated the radium in a pure slate, and so we -have at. best a 'comparatively pure .combination of radium with brojmides and perhaps' btlier substances, though it is scarcely to be doubted that in the near future putc-metallic I'Ctiimii will be obtained in merchantI able quantities,

ABOUT- £8,000,000 a POUND,' The first, establishment m ■ the' world for the inanufncnu;e of ramum is located dt Nogent-sur-llarne, in France. The process of extracting radiwn-bromide is : slow, occupying ' from two to five months; tedious in i the Inst degree and almost incredib-1 ly expensive. It is estimated, that, •counting cost of machinery and. lalioiiv,'''both of the comparatively skilled labourers in the factory and that of the trained chemical experts who perforin the concluding operations, the,' cost of-" extracting one kilogram of pure radium-bromide, about two and a fifth'pounds, would be £16,000;000,. It is easy enough 1o believe-that no such quantity of radium has been extracted from its ores, ami the most that any scientist can' hope to procure is a few small particles, hermetically sealed in a glass tube, and these bits, most of them one-half' to one-tenth the size of n pin head, are the material with which chemists anil physicians make their experiments. • The radium' factory, or, more properly, radium-bromide factory, is but an ordin a ry building, but within it is. carried on-the process of abstracting from many tons of minerals the microscopic particles worth thousands of -times their weight in gold. The materials arc most varied, principal!*' being pitchblende, from which uranium is obtained, especially valuable as a pigment for glass, to which it imparts an exquisite greenish-yellow ; colour. Pitchblende is of itself a very remarkable compound, containing the sulphates of almost all -known minerals. ' .

By waggon loads the material is sent through a crusher, then subjected, in a'great tank, whose contents are stirred, by a mechanical device, to processes so numerous and scientific, that to give even ..a crude I notion of them would require -a volume. „ Sullice it to say, therefore, that the idea underlying ail the dulicate reductions is that of abstracting "one nfter another the gnrious substances soluble by water 'or acids, and thus, little by little, I washing away all but the radium 'compound. For every ton of pitchblende residue, over five tons of acids and other chemicals, and fifty tons of. water are required,' and after continuing the separation and purification for months, there remains at the bottom of the great tan'l n handful of impure radium- , bromide, which is turned over to j chemists of long experience, for final ! reduction. When they have finished their work, there are left a few i grains of the substance known as ra-jditim-broinide.

CAN RADIUM AFFECT CANCER?

Tho purest radium salt yet obtained has a radiating power which, compared with that of uranium, regarding the latter as the unit, is 0,000,000 greater. Highly purified radium has a power of above 7,000,000, but all of this strength is retained at the factory, 'for the use of the experimenters. It is said-by Professor W. J. Hammer that there are only two particles of perfectly pure radium-bromide in the world, ; One is in the factory, and lie is the owner of the other. This experimenter will, however, shortly place oil the market'a comparatively pure ' radium salt which will be sold at the ! low price of, approximately, £">ir>,jOOO per pound.

Opinions differ as to what has, or j will be accomplished by radium. Lu- j pus lias been cured with it, so have j persistent ulcers. Cancer, when in first si ages, has yielded to the power | of its rays, but deeply-established ! cancer has resisted its influence. It is now believed that the virtues at-! tributed to the- .waller of certain ! springs are due io the presence of Diamonds, when exposed to the mystic rays, become luminous and remain so, sometimes for months, while other precious stones frequently exhibit the same phosphorescence. It • possesses the power of making aiv impression on a photographic plate, though a much longer timo. is required, sometimes two or three weeks, and-the impression is by no means clear, Tho mostsingular property of this magical olement is the fact that it' gives out heat constantly, almost uniformly and under all circumstances, without loss o( weight, change., of substance, oi' deterioration. A particle of radium has been known to radiate its heat for a year or two at a time, and when weighed I again has not lost a tcn-Uiousand-|tli part of, an ounce.' Every ono knows tho various ways in which heat is produced, but radium, is a self-producer of heat, and so far as we now can see, tho process may continue indefinitely, and it is this property which makes the little • grain of radium-bromide, whicli' looks' exactly like a grain of common salt, j so wonderful in the eyes ol the choin--1 ists, for it; apparently contradicts flatly ' every principle'regarding the evolution of heat.—"Popular Science ; Sittings." ; . / '