EFFECTS OF RADIUM.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 980, 18 April 1911, Page 4

EFFECTS OF RADIUM.

Sir William Ramsay, the discoverer of the atmospheric gases Argon, Neon, Krypton and Xenon, and an authority on the transmutation of radium, recently gave his experiences of the effect of radium on life following on the experiment of Professor Gabriel Petit at Alfort, near Paris, who found that an old horse injected with radium received a new lease of life. “The experiment,” said Sir William, “has been frequently tried both on animals and human beings, but with no very positive results. It is always of value to hear of an experiment being carried out with any result which may add to the knowledge of the subject. I have tried radium injection on cats, and the effect was that they became emaciated after a short time, and eventually died. It produces profound alterations of the tissues. Of eight people suffering from cancer who were injected, one recovered, but the others did not, so that it is difficult to say what were the effects of the radium, if any. External application for certain kinds of cancer undoubtedly effects a cure ; but in other kinds sometimes not. The skin undoubtedly shows radio-activity for some time. The effect on many persons may be of a stimulating nature. One of the greatest objections to the use of radium for injection would be its excessive cost.”