A RADIUM BANK.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 839, 10 June 1910, Page 6

A RADIUM BANK.

GOVERNMENT SCHEME. By Teletraph—Press Association—CoDyrieht ; Sydney', June 9. Tho ' State Government is considering the question of the formation of a State Radium Bank, with a capital of ,£SOOO. The, object is to make the treatment of cancer and other diseases by means of radium available not only to the hospitals, hut by private practitioners. RADIUM FOR THE POOR, Through tho medium of. tho . Sydney "Daily Telegraph," Dr. W. MTilurray, hon. dermatologist to the Sydney Hospital, is making an appeal to the public lor .£2OOO for .the purchase of radium for tho poor. Dr. M'Murray's appeal is headed by tho following letter:— Sir,—Wonderful medical resu'rts can bo obtained by radium. It is the . only means of alleviating the sufferings of victims of certain forms of cancer beyond the reach of surgery, and in many cases is a curative agent. •

The Sydney Hospital has had marvellous results from the use' of a small ■quantity 'of [radium, lent by me, but has been, greatly hampered in its beneficial work by the insufficiency of the quantity and lack of funds'tb"purchase'a supply. , All leading metropolitan hospitals 'in the Old Country are supplied with it. I propose,to ask you to open a public subscription to provide the Sydney Hospital with funds for this purpose. ,£2OOO would bo-'sufficient. ■ ' When the'terrible suffering and deplorable condition of these unhappy sufferers are considered, I have- no .doubt there will he ii quick responso to the appeal by the public. English Radium Institute. In /'England, a Radium Institute has been founded. The. late King took the greatest personal interest in its foundation, and. it was through his 'instrumentality, aided by the liberality of Sir Ernest Cassel and Lord" Iveagh, that the scheme was carried' into effect. A site was procured in the neighbourhood of All Souls'' Church, Langham Place. The committee, under whose direction it '■ is conducted, consists of Sir Frederick Treves (chairman), Sir. Lauder Brunton, Sir Malcolm Morris, Sir W. Eamsay, Professor Sir. J. J. Thomson, of Cambridge,, and the Hon. R: J. Strutt. The services of a • highly competent medical director were, secured. It was intended to charge suitable fees to those who can afford them, for the. cost of radium is very great. "The justification of the existence ol' a Iladiuni Institute (says ail authority) lies in the fact that it is practically impossible for individual, medical men to obtain enough fur usb in any but the smallest way. It will be the special function of the new institute to determine the therapeutic potentialities of radium, under' strictly scientific conditions, and on a scale sufficiently large to afford a solid basis for a final judgment. It is. an interesting experiment, and. the profession will watch its progress and issue with . interest. To put the matter briefly, the problem which the Kadium Institute has before it ■ is this: Is radium a new healing force, or merely a very powerful and penetrating .caustic? Experiments. "On January 26, 1909, Sir Frederick Treves gave a lecture on the uses of radium at the /London Hospital. Ho pointed" out that radium can cure any form of naevus, that it cures, and apparently permanently, cases of itching. Ho recorded the cure of a case of rodent ulcer, which X-rays, previously applied, failed to cure. He stated that cancer had been set up in a mouse, and that a solution of radium was injected, with the result that the growth disappeared. The failure of the experimenters to obtain such good results from the employment of radium as Sir Frederick Treves has Bbted, is said to be due to the fact that it has not been applied in the best way, which /consists in using a little of tho element spread over a large surface. Employed in this manner, radium acts more powerfully than when a piece of it is placed in a tube, and is capable of destroying epitheliomata and other lesions which X-rays have failed to affect. Distance and duration are important factors in the treatment, which can only bo learned by time, trouble, and experience, and they vary according to the results which tho surgeon wishes to secure. Sir F. Treves discussed the inhalation of radio-activo substances into the lungs, and cited an instance in which an experimenter had injected a radioactivo solution into a cancer, the result of tho research being that the cancer rapidly disappeared. For Eye Diseases. "At a meeting of the Oplithalmological Society held on July 9, Mr. Arnold Lnwson, in conjunction with Mr. Mackenzie Davidson, read a preliminary note on tbe treatment- of eye diseases by radium. Only 17 cases had been so far treated, but in every case the result of exposure to radium had been very encouraging. The cases tried werd chiefly those of ulceration of the cornea. Tljo small dose of 5 ,mg. seemed to act us quickly as did a much larger dose. Tho radium was applied in sealed glass tubes, (lie glass outting off tho alylia rays, so lh.it only the beta . and gamma, rays' passed through.to tho lesion. "Dr. Dominici, after experimenting x7i'.\\ radium in cases of inoperable enncti;-, arrived at the following conclusions: (1) Inoperable tnmonrs have Ij**» rendtrtvl operable;*(2) tiiat "general disorders and the local lesions of patients with tiimmrs, in the presence of which the siirgwm «jj powerless, had been supI Dressed or greatly attenuated."