THE RADIUM APPEAL

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2665, 29 November 1923, Page 3

THE RADIUM APPEAL

LATE DR,. MARTIN’S ADVOCACY,

In connection with the radium (radiation) appeal now before the public, that noted physician and eminent New Zealander, the late Dr A; A. Martin, of Palmerston N., who lost hist life in the Great War, was instrumental in initiating l the first radium'appeal in the North Island. In 1914 he contributed to the Dominion an eloquent .supporting, letter, which shows such foresight and insight that it could stand to-day, almost unaltered in advocacy of the second- radium (radiation) appeal lately initiated in Wellington. The Minister of Public Health (in 1914) having mentioned radium as an experimental treatment, Dr. Martin commented: “In the most friendly way I should like to point out that radium treatment has advanced beyond being a mere experiment. It is to-day an acknowledged and accepted treatment in ertain diseases, notably malignant disease, rodent ulcers, certain eye conditions, certain skin diseases. One may, of course, say that all medical treatment is experimental. The doctor diagnoses a. certain malady, and he prescribes a certain remedy to combat that malady. That remedy may be looked upon as an experiment at cure. Yet the doctor has his experience and his traditions behind him, assuring him that his treatment is not experimental. One must not assume that because a certain treatment has many failures to chronicle the treatment is useless or experimental. Against tho failures ono must also chronicle the cures.” Dr. Martin proceeded to point out that treatment (such as antitoxin treatment of diphtheria) had their failures as well as their successes, and “so it is with radium.” In mentioning that “ a Radium Committee of prominent citizens lias been formed in Palmerston N. under the presidency of Mr Goring Johnston,” to raise £12,000, Dr. Martin placed the movement above parochialism. v “The Radium Institute (he wrote) is to be for the North Island. The site of the institute can be decided on definitely when the necessary funds and support are available. The committee is not pledged to any particular place, and is entirely above any parochial or partisan bias. The committee thinks that Palmerston N. would be the most central site for this institution. If another site is decided on by the Government and subscribers, then the committee will loyally abide by that decision. —Standard.