RADIUM, REVOLUTIONISER.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9440, 10 May 1909, Page 7

RADIUM, REVOLUTIONISER.

•A NSW INDUSTRY. 'A new industry has started in 'Cornwall which may cause little less than a revolution. This is the ex'tratoion of radium from a heap of .reddish-brown matter which - for--marly was regarded as rubbish. ■This rubbish is the residua of pitchblende after uraninm-oixde has been ■ pitoh-blande looks like curiously streaked pitch and consists .mainly of uranium-oxide whioh is ■used in staining glass. The radium forms a minute fraction of the remaining substance; in fact, about :four grains of radium can be extracted from a ton of residues, bringing the cost to about £l2 a grain, though commercially it is ■ much greater. Austria has prohibited the export of radium on accounts of its scarcity, ■bat there appear to be enormous , stores.in Cornwall. The “tailings from the mines which have hitherto ■been regarded as nseless are now ■being collected and new mines will be opened out. More than a hun--drsd men «re at work in one Cornish mine extracting the crude material. , The radium, or rather radium for no one has ever seen ’pure radium, is got by a series of chelae! processes in the form of very fine crystals. It is very insignificant \ looking, resebling coon salt. In the darkit glows like rotten fish, but there appears to be nothing interesting about it. Yet it is a weird substance, which may altar our whole world when we know it better. It is called radium because it constantly gives out very peculiar rays. The principal rays to which we are actus ;omed in everyday life are light xayi heat rays, but science has shown ns that there are innumerable -other forms of rays to whioh our sensek are blind. By means of the photographic plate we can see things invisible to our eyes and radium possesses the power of printing photographs in the dark through black paper. Radium exists practically everywhere, especially in deep, wells, but in such minute quantities as to be almost beyond the p,ower of recognition. One remarkable fact about•• radium is that it has the power of making all objetca near it luminous. In the dark the hands and clothes of a ■person handling it will glow, while phosphorescent substances will become brilliantly"lnminons. When a xfiicrosoopio portion is placed against .certain materials and'greatly magnified it is seen to bombard a neighbouring substance with thousands of flashes of light in a particularly weird manner. The wonderful thing about radium is that it is always about 2% degrees Fahr. warmer than its surroundings—’that is to say, it is continually giving off a slight amount of heat. A peculiarity is that its powers diminish so slowly that it will retain its efficacy for a thousand years. Not only this, but it imparts its properties to everything with which it is- brought in contact. For instance, if a tube of radium be placed in water the water will issue rays. ’Not only this, but so will the vessel, while any object put in the water will also become charged. Radium has most peculiar effects on the human system. It causes horrible sores whioh are’ difficult to heal, while it will heal some of the most malignant. The man of science who was the first to experiment with radium was rendered so ill that the skin peeled off certain parts of his body, while he became nnahle to dress without asaiscanoe. It _ will ■cause complete blindness, yet it is probable that it will enable certain of the blind to see. A long course of exposure to its rays will cause paralvsis of the spinal cord, ending in death, yet it is possible.to prolong life indefinitely by its aid. Some ' wqnderfui experiments have been ■conducted in which the lives of certain creatures have been prolonged for over three times their natural span. Abtually it seems that it will - indefinitely suspend all development.