A WORTHY MOVEMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 197, 18 February 1914, Page 4

A WORTHY MOVEMENT.

A movement is afoot in Pa I mors ton North lo establish a Radium Institute there for the use of the whole of the North Island. The amount required is £12.000, of which £2OOO has already been subscribed, one generous settler contributing £IOOO. The cause is ;i worthy and deserving' one, and it is lo be hoped the promoters will succeed ill raising the required amount. The Government has been approached for t subsidy, but if the recent remarks of tho Minister for Public Health to the Medical Congress last week can be taken as an index of the attitude of the Government, the prospect of receiving ni.l from that quarter is not very bright, The Hon. K. H. Rhodes, the Minister in question, expressed the opinion that the development of the research bad hardly progressed far enough at present to warrant New Zealand entering into experiments in cancer research on anything like an extensive scale! But nobody wants the 'Government to enter into experiments. What is required is an adequate contribution towards establishing a Radium Institute. Radium treatment for eel-tain diseases, notably malignant growth, rodent ulcers, and certain eye and si in diseases has passed the experimental stage. Its eflicacy in a big proportion of eases has been demonstrated beyond doubt. The Director of the Cancer Research Laboratories of tile Middlesex Hospital recently showed that the cancer department of the hospital only admits eases that have passed beyond surgical aid. From .June to September, 1012, the mortality in these cases was 100 per cent. But in the corresponding period of last year, out of sixty-eight patients admitted and treated by the radium method, thirtytwo were in so favorable a state as ti, be discharged from the hospital. Dr. Lazarus-l'arlow, the director, says that it is yet too early to talk of an absolute cure, and that time is required to substantiate the unprecedented results achieved, but he holds that there is no longer any doubt of (he immediate effect of radium on cancerous growths. The great obstacle to the use of radiun in ho.-pil a Is is its cost. lis present market price is £2O a milligram, a! Dr. Lazanis-linrlow that, it could be sold at a prolil fur a few "hillings. Tin- ( H'linaii" were i|iiick to recognise Hie value df radium in tlii• Ireainienl of disease, and during the |iasl lew years have been busy puivha'r '»!•' all till' precious malcrial available '» 1 • Trance anil Knghinil. but if li 1:111 be manufactured as cheaply as tlie ccjel.ralei] London ilocfor allii'ins. it "irange dial more of- ii is not on the market anil-tile present almost prohibitive price not brought down. Then perhaps it would not be necessary to luid Cli,W) for the proposed Palmcr-

ston North Institute. But that amount is not very large for a wealthy country like New Zealand to subscribe. If it were wanted for the purpose of aimi-.i-ment, instead of for curing disease, it would be forthcoming at the first time of asking. Anything tending to alleviate suffering and to preserve life ius a first claim on the community, and should be strongly supported. The promoters of the movement have a right to expect a lead —and a substantial lead—from the (iovernment, which, in fact, should never have waited to he asked for aid, but shouldyhave undertaken of its own volition the establishment of radium institutions in both Islands. In a recent issue of the Dominion appeals a letter 011 the subject from the pen of Dr. A. Martin, of l'alineistou Xorth. He puts the position logically and forcibly:— To-day the anti-toxin treatment of diphtheria is accepted as the recognised cure for diphtheria. Yet not every caso of diphtheria is cured by the serum. Anti-tetanic serum is always kept in stock to treat any ease of tetanus that may occur. Vet ninuv cases of tetanus die, although thev havo had full doses of the serum. Salvarsan is tho accepted treatment for syphilis. Yet it will not_ cure overy case. A line of unbroken' successes is not necessary to establish a remedy as good and efficient and beyond the experimental stage. Our consumption sanatoria built by the State to combat tuberculosis liave many successes, but moro failures. Yet 110 one will venture to say that these sanatoria are experimental and should be done awa.v with. So it is with radium. It lias had many startling and brilliant successes. It hns also had many failures. It has cured cases that were looked upon as hopeless. It has certainly cured many cases of malignant disease that were beyond all surgical relief. In other eases it has eased pain. It must be looked upon is one of the acknowledged and accepted treatments for malignant disease. It is not claimed for radium that it will take the place of surgery in the treatment of malignant disease. It is a most valuable adjunct to surgery, and as said before it has certainly cured cases of cancer that were beyond surgical relief.