RADIUM CURES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10096, 13 March 1909, Page 4 (Supplement)

RADIUM CURES.

Sir Frederick Treves, tiic King'* surgeon, chairman of the new itadium Institute, which has been founded lo investigate cured by radium and to treat patients—poor people will be treated free—presided at a committee meeting to disciwa the scheme. Jle gave a representative of the London Daily -Mail the following details:— '"Here is the real state of the case. Yon know, of course, that we are all enormously interested in radium. I believe myself that its utility is likely to be -very great. "I have seen moles removed by it. I have watched it cure a mevus (mole or birthmark) the size of a gooseberry on a labv'a head; an angioma (tumor) on a girl's eyelid as big as a plum. I'ort-wine atains can lie cured by it. Even jumps under the akin yield to it. Four weeks' treatment dispersed one as large as a hen's egg. Jtodent ulcers of a certain type msv. alio lie successfully treated. "At the same time, although wc knowthat radium doc* these things, we know very little else about- it. . Its selective power is marvellous. It acts upon certain tissues and leaves others unaffected. But we do not understand why. Say_ you have a lump in your arm. Your arm is exposed, to radium rays. The lump is obviously reached and acted upon by them. It disappears. Yet the skin and bone and muscle arc not affected at all. Wc have got to do a great deal "of research work before we can -explain radium action, or define its limits, or tell exactly what diseases it will core. . '•ln this highly-scientific and technical subject the King* has taken a very keen ' and sympathetic .interest. His Majesty saw from the beginniug tho possibilities that lay in radium for the benefit of his people, and he fads followed with; close attention every development of this fascinating discovery.'' Therefore, while it u

quite untrue that lit- is about to grant a royal rliarter iwe never thought of asking foi- one), it- is a fart, iievertljelc-ss, lint I he otabliihimnl of what we call the Radium institnt.- (not -British") is largely ilui- to his Majesty's attitude. "The liinds have b-rcii placed at oar disposal by Sir Ernest Cassel and l.<"d Ivc-anli. They are equal donor.-', and, without telling" you the exact amount put down, I may say that we have ample m.ans for procuring radium, for carrying on curative treatment, and for doing research work in our <;w:i laboratory. We shall tieat well-to-do patients and charge a fee. Wc shall treat the poor and charje nothing. A tite has been found in th:West Knd,and as soon as certain contracts have been signed f will tell, you where .t • is. When it is finished our 'institute''' wiil ■■ be the finest thin-: of its kind in the > world. "There is a Radium Institute in Pans ; I it is run. I believe, at a fiood profit. There • is also talk of cue in Vienna. lint the ' Loudon one will, we hope, be a model in I every mpect. I think there will be noi thini like it. Our committee we have i formed, consisting of myself as ehairmau, nominees of .Sir 'Ernest Cissel and Lord ; Ivcasib (who thev'v.ill b? I do not know), i Sir William Ramsay. Sir J. J. Thomson, s the Hon. R. J. Strutl. Sir T. Lauder Bruni ton, and Sir Malcolm Morris. I think you i will aiirec w : e could hardly beat that. "As~to the Imperial Cancer Research I Fund, I believe it is doing most valuable ' work, and I have the highest admiration - for its efforts, but please make it clear that"we have no connection with-it what- ! ever, though wc shall no doubt be working - in certain directions aloiijr the same lines. • "The benefit of the Radium Institute ' to Loudon and this country generally will - be verv great. The nation owes a heavy > debt of -.'latitude to the King for the i interest lie has taken in it, and to the donors for niakins its establishment possible. We ehall now be able to study t this most interesting and mysterious subt stance under the most advantageous eondi--1 tions. J "When you asked me if I could explain t its action "i told you that no one knows - whv it effects such marveilous cures —or v what would have been thought marvellous i a ohort while ago. Hut. I feel confident i that in course of time we ehall know a "real deal more about it. "One verv remarkable quality of it we have already discovered. That is, that the larger the "amount of radium used the . greater is the effect produced. It may at . present be regarded as almost limitless in i. in power. Do you follow me? What I . mean is that the"greater the bulk you have _ of it the more "speedily you can eifect . cures, and the more difficult eases can be . attacked. This is not true of the X-Rays, '■. for example, or of .the Finscn Light. We know their limitations. Those of radium have yet to'bo found out. "As to the supply of radium, wc do 0 not anticipate any difficulty in getting all .. wc require. The real reason for the small • amount in existence is that there is so j very little demand for it. As soon as tho - demand increases go will the supply. Of , that we can be sure. No doubt it will be produced in Cornwall. There is a good ' deal of pitchblende there, from which it ,* cm bo extracted. The Radium Institute g. may verv likelv cause the demand' to go !, up. Much depends on the result of our " e researchers experimenters and investigations.'" ".Wc mav be on the eve or tremendous s discoveries"which will revolutionise all our ' ideas?" „ "Wc mav." said Sir Frederick, and then £ the cautious scientific strain in his charac- ' tcr came to the surface, '"or, on the other j hand, wc may not." '- Much of the misery .of humanity could c he obviated by compassion, - benevolence, ° and sympathy. There is nothing" therefore 0 which we ought more to encourage in our.e selves and others than that disposition of • mind which in our language goes under the title of good nature. Good nature is A generally born with us; health, prospern fty, and kind treatment from the -world >' are great cherisbers' of it where they -Jind a it; but nothing is.capable of forcing it « tip where it does not grow of itself. This k characteristic is one of the blessings of a '/ happy: disposition which ; education may •* improve Dut not produce.