CANCER.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 66, 11 December 1907, Page 7

CANCER.

RADIUM. 7 AS A CURE. A REPOR r f.'fiD, SUCCESS IN RUSSIA. BY TELEGRAfr -n—pftjrgg ASSOCIATION—COrYUIOHT. St. Petersburg, December 9. Several Russian physicians claim that radium ctij ed General I'oehl of cancer. 1 Genera]/ PoeJil has signed a certificate to that elfcs/t. ;•••' In, liisV int.GrPst.inp: book on "Tho Recent: Det of Physical Science;" Mr. W. C. D. Whetli,;., a FM,'; paiow . of; Trinity 7®* Cambndscy utates:wit''• was hoped ?„ vf * "'at r.ittiuni niißlit play, u. useful part lirmt , wtraave treatment of certain diseases. Jioncgi. .! r ay,s have occasionally; been employed •'•J?.,! 1 *? • tca " B ,.°f. crooking the spread of cancer, .ma rj c v.'ulmtitHif; from radium also appeared InJi 0 ? °{icotivc, besides, being.applied far more rinl %li ,0Ca "J\ and "lior'TOiisiderable 'periods., there are grave objections to tho use' of ™« f j, UI for we are as yet verv ignorant of us. >.)ntire physiological action; its after-effects on (those who have handled any largo quantity;i°i'j some time are far from reassuring. The. intf liciual springs of Bath and Buxton- contain ra-fiio-active emanations, . while radium itself lijis been detected in tlitj solid deposits at Bath. J i is possible that tho curative elfects 'of tlicse ,y/ators is caused by .their.-radio-activitv, land, >/ so, the uselessness of drinking- the' water, •//hen kept and removed - to-ft distance,, may bo (lue, moro to tho dccay-.of. tho activity of tho • jinanat.ions, than to the provident Imagina- /' tion of the local authorities. Mr. Soddy: ban p suggested that inhaling the emanations 'of | radium, or, preferably,-: of'. thoriumL might 'prove a usefiul way : .of'footing Inug: disease. By varying tlio tima of application, tho gciitlo radio-activity thus obtained is perfectly under control; aud the excited activity on the ivalls of tho lungs would' wntimio' tho treatment in a milder form for tamo hours after the iji-. hp.lation had ceased.'' 't-'or surgical purposes also, radium, if it oonhl be prepared fairly pure in mcderato quantities,' would be more', convenient than -fays, for the production of which complicated and expensive' apparatus is needed, apparatus, too, capricious in its action. At. tho same time it is clear that tire use of radium is attended with difficulty ami danger. When kiipt [near the skin it causes sores, of a nature not\yot rnlly understood, which only, appear sorno davs afterwards, while if caterpillars or othor littlo animals are confined in a box with a small quantity ot a,.iadium compound, they did in u lev liours. '