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diff --git a/75392-0.txt b/75392-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a4756ef --- /dev/null +++ b/75392-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1627 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75392 *** + + + + + +Transcriber’s Note: Italics are enclosed in paired _underscores_; +subscripts are indicated by a single underscore: H_2O. Superscripts are +indicated by a caret symbol: 10^9. When a superscript is longer than +one character, it is enclosed in curly braces: 10^{-11}. Additional +notes will be found near the end of this ebook. + + + + + LITTLE BLUE BOOK NO. 1000 + Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius + + + The Wonders + of Radium + + Maynard Shipley + + + HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY + GIRARD, KANSAS + + + + + Copyright, 1926, + Haldeman-Julius Company + + + PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + + + +THE WONDERS OF RADIUM + + + + +CONTENTS + + + Page + I. Introductory 5 + All Matter Radioactive 9 + + II. Everyday Uses of Radium 16 + Radium Makes Gems Blush 18 + A Radium Clock 19 + + III. Radium and the Age of the Earth 21 + + IV. An Epoch-Making Discovery 30 + How Radium is Converted to Lead 34 + + V. Radium in the Treatment of Cancer 45 + + VI. Efficiency of Radium in Treatment of Various Diseases 51 + + VII. Where We Get Radium 55 + New Sources of Radium 58 + The Radioactive Disintegration Series 60 + Uranium I Series 63 + Uranium Y Series 63 + Thorium Series 64 + + + + +THE WONDERS OF RADIUM + + + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTORY + + +It has been well said that a general idea of what radioactivity +signifies is a necessary part of the education of every intelligent +person, since “it is the one thing of paramount importance in the +chemical and physical science of the day.” But its importance extends +much farther, since radioactivity is now employed in many departments +of industry, as well as in biology and medicine. + +It is known that the rays from radium have the power to stimulate +all forms of life, even to the extent of speeding up the growth of +plants and of making dormant plants burst into bud. Some authorities, +as we shall see later, are fully convinced that the radiations can +be employed successfully in the prolongation of human life. It is +well known that radiotherapy has, for some years now, been employed +advantageously in the treatment of many forms of illness, and is, in +some institutions, the sole medium for the cure or alleviation of +cancer and other malignant growths. + +Not long ago the discovery was made that the curative agent in certain +famous baths in Europe is the radium which the waters of their springs +contain. + +If one could really buy bottled water which has been properly treated +with radium rays or the “emanation,” beneficial results would no doubt +be obtained. The trouble is that such waters are difficult to secure. + +“None of the foreign or domestic commercial bottled water sold +to consumers on the claim of radioactive content really contains +sufficient radioactivity to warrant its purchase,” according to the +report of investigation completed by the water and beverage laboratory +of the United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. + +“In the examination of 46 samples from 15 states and eight foreign +countries, the bureau found the highest quantity of radioactivity of a +temporary nature in a bottled water from Massachusetts. + +“The largest amount of permanent radioactivity was in a sample from a +deep well in Ohio. It was found, however, that it would be necessary to +consume 2,810 gallons of the Massachusetts water, or 1,957 gallons of +the Ohio water daily to obtain an efficient dose of radioactive salts. + +“During the tests radioactivity of samples was determined by means of +electroscopes.” + +When radium is taken in soluble form, 25 or 50 percent of it remains +in the body for four or five days. The rate of excretion after that is +only about one percent a day. “Wherever it is located, it carries on a +constant bombardment in releasing its energy, giving strength to the +tissues, cells and protoplasm of the body. And when once these begin +to function actively, they begin to rebuild themselves.” + +Radium does not combine chemically with any known substance in the +body. The therapeutic effects are indirect. When the electrons are +ejected with great speed from the atoms of the radioactive salts, they +pass through millions of other atoms, knocking out new electrons as +they go, leaving the atoms with a positive charge, in which condition +they are called “ions.” These positively charged particles at once +enter into new combinations, new chemical unions, which produce new +substances. But these may be injurious to the normal tissues as well +as to the cells of the disease which it is desired to destroy. In some +cases, the diseased cells are more susceptible to the rays than are the +normal cells, in which instances the growth of the abnormal or diseased +cells may be retarded, or they may even be totally destroyed. It is +thus seen that application of the rays may result in alleviation of the +disease, or, possibly, effect a complete cure, as the case may be. + +The action of radium on various (colloidal) substances is now well +understood from the point of view of the biophysicist; but this phase +of the subject is too highly technical for exposition in a book +intended for popular circulation. + +While it is fully recognized that there are quite definite limitations +to the efficacy of radioactivity in its application to disease, as a +matter of fact the use of radium as a therapeutic agent would be much +more extensive were it not for its high cost and scarcity. No one +questions its exceptional value in the treatment of certain diseases, +and a method will probably be discovered, in the near future, by which +it may veritably be used to postpone the age of senility. + +A young man who had read somewhere that radium is a sure cure for any +and all of the ills to which flesh is heir, entered a drug store and +asked: “How much is radium an ounce?” The druggist smiled, and named +a figure which made the young man blink. “Not really?” observed the +prospective customer. “Then you may give me an ounce of cough lozenges.” + +Until quite recently, an ounce of radium cost almost as much as 3¾ tons +of gold! That is to say, an ounce of radium, if this much could be +purchased “off hand”--which it couldn’t--would cost about $2,500,000. +The price was at one time $3,000,000 an ounce. + +When we speak of “radium,” we really mean--or ought to mean--_radium +salts_. Pure radium soon abandons its metallic form by entering into +chemical combinations. It is the purified radium salts that cost, as +late as 1923, $2,500,000 an ounce--the price of ¾ of a ton of platinum, +the most “precious” of all the metals excepting radium. In 1920, radium +was 200 times more valuable than an equal weight of pure blue diamonds, +and 180,600 times as valuable as gold. A cubic foot of the salts--had +this amount been obtainable--would have been worth $7,000,000,000. + +The reason for the high cost of radium is not far to seek. First, the +demand for the pure salts far exceeded the supply--and this is still +the case, though relief is now in sight. Secondly, the scarcity of +radium was due to the enormous amount of time and labor involved in its +production. + +Although radium was discovered and isolated by Mme. Curie in 1898, +22 years later--at the close of 1920--scarcely 140 grams (or about +five ounces) of pure radium salts had been extracted and put on the +world market. Of this amount, about 70 grams had been produced in the +United States (during the preceding seven years). The market value of +the standard salts was at this time about $100,000 a gram (about 1/28 +ounce). Eighteen grams were produced in this country in 1920, and the +value of the purified salts was quoted in some journals as $2,160,000. +At this price, about $100,000 worth of radium could be put into a glass +tube about the diameter of a very coarse pencil lead and not more than +an inch in length. + +To produce the gram of radium salts presented to Mme. Curie by the +women of America (in May, 1921), 500 tons of carnotite ore--containing +two percent or less of uranium oxide--were treated, consuming in the +process 1,500 tons of coal, more than a ton of chemicals, and over 30 +tons of water. + + +ALL MATTER RADIOACTIVE + +While certain substances have been designated as “radioactive,” it is +not to be understood that these bodies alone emit charged particles, or +radiant energy. + +“All bodies whatever are a constant source of visible or invisible +radiations, which, whether of one kind or the other, are always +radiations of light” (Le Bon, “The Evolution of Forces,” p. 318, 1908). + +Compounds of potassium, and also of rubidium, caesium and lanthanum, as +shown by Campbell, Wood, McLennan, Kennedy, and other investigators, +possess very high radioactive properties. While the atomic weight of +potassium is only about 39, and of rubidium about 84, the typical +radioactive elements have atomic weights ranging from 200 to 238. Of +the 12 to 15 elements essential to life, potassium is the only one +possessing distinct if minute radioactivity. “The activity of potassium +may readily be demonstrated by means of the goldleaf electroscope. It +is shown that Beta rays are emitted” (Burns). But potassium is 1000 +times weaker than uranium, and 1,000,000,000 times weaker than radium, +in the emission of Beta (negative) rays. Caesium and lanthanum emit +Alpha (positive) rays. + +Professor Dufour, the distinguished French scientist, has shown that +even air that has been breathed emits radioactive particles. The +presence of radioactive matter in the atmosphere has been shown to +account for its electric conductivity. Thomson found (1906) that many +specimens of water from deep wells contain a radioactive gas, and +Elster and Gertel have found that a similar gas is contained in the +soil. + +It is probably safe to assert, with Le Bon, that all matter, “down to +the absolute zero of temperature,” radiates electrified and more or +less luminous particles, albeit they are invisible to the human eye. + +It is because of its property of emitting negative electrons (Beta +rays) that potassium is a necessary constituent of all living matter. +It may, however, be replaced, under certain conditions, by other +radioactive substances. + +Prof. Barton Scammel, of the British Radium Society, gave it as his +opinion (in 1922) that further experience in the proper uses of +potassium salts and radium in solution would lead to the realization of +a new golden age. He predicted, among other “good tidings,” life for +120 years in the bloom of youth, the “pep” of 25 years at 75, a third +set of teeth, new hirsute coverings for erstwhile bald heads, muscles +like Jack Dempsey’s. + +Dr. C. Everett Field, of the New York Radium Institute, stated +publicly, in backing up Scammel’s hopes and theories, that he thinks +another ten years will see human life vastly prolonged as a matter of +course by the use of radium. He said: + +“We have ascertained beyond question that potassium salts are necessary +to heart action, that they are slightly radioactive, and that radium +can be substituted for them with a degree of success. + +“It was Dr. Zwaardemaker, physiologist of the University of Utrecht, +who first discovered, a number of years ago, that radium could do in +the blood stream what potassium salts do in the normal person. He took +an animal’s heart, which was kept beating outside the animal, and +removed the potassium element. It was not longer possible then to keep +it in action. Then he substituted a radium solution and it was possible +to restore action.” + +Dr. Field stated that it had been discovered that the systems of +victims of cancer and other wasting diseases were deficient in +potassium salts, and that as their systems were made to assimilate +potassium a tonic effect was noticeable at once. The greatest trouble +was to make the body assimilate the potassium. + +“The fact is,” said Dr. Field, one of the more conservative radium +therapists, “that radium does not do the healing. But, for that matter, +neither does any other form of healing. The healing exists within +the organism. And radium, I am convinced, in some cases, is the most +efficient medicine to give needed stimulus to the healing apparatus of +diseased organisms.” + +Even now, he believes, radioactive treatment may prolong life at least +15 years. For internal treatment, either doses of radioactive water, +or extremely minute quantities of radium itself, are administered. +Radioactive water is taken from springs found to contain traces of +radium, or radium is used to make ordinary water radioactive. The +difficulty with spring waters is that they lose their radioactive power +when bottled and transported, and must be consumed at their source. + +“Because of this fact,” says a writer for _The Popular Science Monthly_ +(June, 1923), “a group of physicians interested in the use of radium as +a curative stimulant have invented an ingenious device for imparting +radioactive properties to ordinary water. As designed for use in the +home, this instrument consists of a case containing an arrangement +of glass tubes and vessels in which emanations from radium salts in +solution are imparted to air, which is then mixed with the water. + +“A much simpler apparatus, available for office use, somewhat resembles +a hypodermic syringe, containing special capsules of radium salts. +Pushing a plunger forces air through the radium capsules and into a +glass of water and is said to make the water radioactive. The doses of +radium in each case are constant, because radium emanates at a constant +rate, and only a certain amount can be dissolved in water, no matter +how many times a day the apparatus is brought into use. + +“Whether radium treatment will prove able to restore youth to old age, +grow new sets of teeth and perform other marvels that its more ardent +supporters predict for it, only time will tell. + +“If radium treatment proves to facilitate the process of cell +elimination, it will have gone a long way toward delivering the world +from its enemies of disease.” + +The philosopher-scientist, Le Bon, makes bold to suggest that +light-waves which are invisible to human eyes may be perceptible to +nocturnal animals, which would include most of the lemurs and the +felines, and some other beasts which seem to be capable of finding +their way and carrying on their predatory or other activities in the +dark. “To them,” says Le Bon, “the body of a living being, whose +temperature is about 37° C., or about 98° F., ought to be surrounded +by a luminous halo, which the want of sensitiveness of our eyes alone +prevents our discovering. There do not exist in nature, in reality, any +dark bodies, but only imperfect eyes.” + +Le Bon has also said that the human body is sufficiently radioactive +to photograph itself by its own rays, if we could find a substance +sensitive to these radiations, as the photographic plate is to the +actinic rays. Nothing would then be easier, he declares, than to +photograph a living body in the dark without any other source of light +than the invisible light which it is continually emitting. + +Some recent (1924) experiments of the French scientist, Dr. Albert +Nodon, seem to afford the actual proof of Le Bon’s _a priori_ +conclusions. In the presence of a number of noted scientists, Dr. Nodon +exhibited three photographic plates on which were unmistakable light +impressions, which, he claimed, were caused by the rays emitted by a +radioactive mineral, an insect, and a green leaf, which had been placed +on the emulsion side of the plates in a dark-room. + +A similar experiment, in which a dead insect and a dead leaf were used, +resulted in no ray impressions on the plates. Dr. Nodon offered as his +conclusion that radioactivity is an inevitable accompaniment of living +processes, and stated that the strength of photographic impressions +produced in experiments such as his are an accurate measure of vitality +(see _Popular Science Monthly_, October, 1924). + +Radium is probably present in all the planets and stars. Some time ago +the Astronomer Royal of England, Dr. F. W. Dyson, demonstrated the +existence of radium and of radium emanation in the sun’s chromosphere +(the ocean of incandescent hydrogen gas surrounding the photosphere, or +actual surface of the sun). + + + + +CHAPTER II + +EVERYDAY USES OF RADIUM + + +During the World War large quantities of radium were employed by the +Allies for night compasses, luminous dials on airplanes, gun-sights, +etc. In times of peace it is used on pendants for locating electric +lights and switches in the dark, key-holes, fire-extinguishers, poison +bottles, emergency call-bells, and in many other ways. For example, +some mining corporations use signs in their mines made luminous in the +dark by phosphorescent paint made from radioactive substances. These +luminous signs are not affected by atmospheric conditions. + +Yet for all these uses, including “radium watches” and clocks, not more +than half an ounce of radium has been used since its discovery in 1898. +A few millionth parts of a gram of radium, in the form of radioactive +barium sulphate, a large portion of phosphorescent zinc sulphide +(crystallized zinc), mixed with varnish and some adhesive substance, +give enough material to illuminate 40 or 50 watches. One gram of +radium (= 16 grains) combined with 20,000 grams of secret process +phosphorescent zinc sulphide is sufficient to make 667,000 watches +luminous for many years. The factories of this country are now turning +out about four million radium watches annually. + +Unless a special preparation--known only to the manufacturer--is +used, the luminosity of the material gradually disappears, owing to +the destruction of the zinc sulphide crystals by the powerful rays +constantly bombarding them, producing flashes at the rate of 200,000 +a second. The radium itself does not glow, nor does it deteriorate in +power. + +If we examine a luminous dial through a magnifying glass, after the +eyes have been in total darkness for a few minutes, tiny flashes of +light may be seen. These are caused by the explosion of hundreds of +millions of radium atoms. The more radium there is in the paint, the +greater the number of flashes per second, and the more durable the +luminosity. Since every flash means a blow upon a crystal of zinc +sulphide, the crystals gradually break under the strain. In this +process helium is released from the disintegrating radium atoms. + +Mr. M. A. Henry (_Scientific American_, April 2, 1921) points out that +the problem of the chemist “is to produce a phophorescent substance +which will stand up longest under the terrific bombardment of the +radium rays and which, at the same time, will give off the most light. +Such progress is being made in this direction that today [1921] only +about one-twentieth the amount of radium used four years ago [1917] is +needed in the making of luminous material. And the chemist insists that +he has only scratched the surface of possibilities in this direction +and that even better results can be attained. At present the life of +the zinc crystals is from 15 to 20 years, although the radium lasts for +centuries. + +“This life will be much longer if the instrument to which it is applied +is kept away from the light most of the time. The crystals, already +stressed by the radium rays, have an additional strain imposed by the +light and this hastens the process of disintegration. Strong sunlight, +especially at the seashore where the presence of much ozone in the air +intensifies the ultra-violet rays, has a very destructive effect on +luminous material. For this reason the manufacturers of this delicate +substance usually guarantee it for about half its normal life, or ten +years.” + +A radium-lighted fish-bait is now on the market, and fishermen say that +this bait is very successful in attracting fish which haunt deep water. + + +RADIUM MAKES GEMS BLUSH + +D. Berthelot, F. Bordes, C. Doelter, and others observed that the rays +from radium induced important changes in the colors of minerals. + +Dr. T. Squance, of Sunderland, England, succeeded in transforming a +sapphire of faint pink hue into a gorgeous ruby color, and a faint +green sapphire into an oriental emerald hue. It was already known that +a diamond exposed to the rays of radium glows with a beautiful green +light. + +In experiments carried out at the United States Bureau of Mines (1921), +in Reno, Nevada, a colorless Colorado topaz was tinted yellow by +exposure to penetrating radiation. If a method can be devised to make +the color permanent, the discovery will greatly increase the value of +the gem-stone material found in the west. + +If we submit yellow phosphorous to the action of radioactive +substances, it becomes changed into the red “alotropic” variety. +Certain of the rays decompose ammonia, and water under their influence +is subjected to electrolysis, yielding oxygen and hydrogen. + + +A RADIUM CLOCK + +A very interesting instrument was devised by Sir William Strutt (now +Lord Rayleigh) which has been called a “radium clock.” It consists of +a glass vessel containing a tube of radium salts in the center, from +which two gold leaves are hung. The inner surface of the containing +vessel is coated with tinfoil, and this foil is grounded. The radium +salts cause the leaves to become electrically charged. They then +diverge, and, coming in contact with the grounded tinfoil coating, they +are discharged, only to fall back again and repeat the process. This +clock will operate as long as the supply of radioactive material will +act, which in the case of pure radium would be nearly 2000 years. + +G. Lentner has recently succeeded in utilizing atmospheric potential by +the aid of radioactive substances, which, in some way not yet clearly +understood, exert an influence upon the transformer. The method is +as follows: A post about 12 m. in height, forming a sort of antenna, +is erected; the post ends in a collector consisting of an aluminum +sphere provided with points covered with radioactive substances. +This collector communicates by a conducting wire with a special +transformer. Under these conditions the earth and atmospheric currents +attract each other through reciprocal induction. + +Dr. S. A. Sochocky, the well known radium expert, has made radium +oil paints, and made paintings with them. “Pictures painted with +radium look like any other pictures in the daytime, but at night they +illuminate themselves and create an interesting and weirdly artistic +effect. This paint would be particularly adaptable for pictures of +moonlight or winter scenes, and I have no doubt that some day a fine +artist will make a name for himself and greatly interest us by painting +pictures which will be unique, and particularly beautiful at night in a +dark or semi-darkened room.” + +Dr. Sochocky also predicts that “the time will doubtless come when +you will have in your own home (or someone you know will have) a room +lighted entirely by radium. It would be possible today to illuminate +a room, so that at night, without the aid of electricity or other +artificial illumination, you could read fine newspaper print without +difficulty. The light in such a room, thrown off by radium paint on +walls and ceiling, would in color and tone be like soft moonlight, +blue with a tint of yellow. Today, a room ten by nine feet could be +illuminated in this way at a cost of $400, and the illumination would +last ten years. + +“However, such illumination will soon be much cheaper, because of new +discoveries as to the best materials to combine with radium to produce +light.” + + + + +CHAPTER III + +RADIUM AND THE AGE OF THE EARTH + + +One of the important consequences of the discovery of radioactivity was +to afford the scientist a means for solving the problem of the earth’s +age. By “age of the earth” we mean here the time which has elapsed +since the earth’s surface became fitted for the habitation of living +beings. By means of radioactivity we can form an approximate estimate +of the time which has passed since the formation of any given series of +geological strata. Radium is our geological time clock. + +It is now known that all the common rocks and soils of which the +earth’s crust is built up contain measurable amounts of radium. +According to the computation made by Prof. John Joly, the total +quantity of radioactive matter may be as much as one 500 billionth part +of the whole volume of the globe, or something over half a cubic mile. + +All of the 36 known radio-elements are disintegration products of the +primary radio-elements uranium and thorium--_i.e._, they are produced +from one or the other of these in their long sequence of changes. And +the rate at which the radioactive products change--their average life +period,--from the first transmutation to the final product, radium +lead, an isotrope of common lead, is accurately known. (Helium atoms +are “the debris shed at the various stages of the transformation.”) + +It is now well established that a gram of uranium as found along with +its products in rocks and minerals is changing at a rate represented by +the production of 1.88 x 10^{-11} grams of helium and 1.22 x 10^{-10} +grams of lead (isotrope) _per annum_. We do not know for a certainty, +of course, that this rate of production has been maintained throughout +geological time. In the opinion of Lord Rayleigh, we may safely assume +that the rate of transformation has not changed, so that “it would seem +that in the disintegration of a gram of uranium we have a process the +rate of which can be relied upon to have been the same in the past as +we now observe it to be” (_Nature_, October 27, 1921). + +Acting on Rutherford’s suggestion, the Hon. R. J. Strutt (later +Lord Rayleigh) made a determination of the amount of radium in the +superficial parts of the earth--which are alone accessible; and he +also determined the ratio of the lead (isotope) to the uranium, which +was found to be 1.3 (specifically, in the broggerite found in the +Pre-Cambrian rocks at Moss, Norway). Now, if we assume--as the evidence +seems to warrant--that the lead of this atomic weight (206.06) was +all produced by uranium at the rate given above, we get an age of 925 +million years for these rocks. Some minerals from other Archaean rocks +in Norway give a rather larger figure. + +“In other cases,” says Lord Rayleigh, “there is some complication, +owing to the fact that thorium is associated with uranium in the +mineral and that it, too, produces helium and an isotrope of lead of +atomic weight probably 208 exactly, about one unit higher than common +lead.” + +Sir Ernest Rutherford estimated the time required for the accumulation +of the radium content of a uranium mineral in the Glastonbury granitic +gneiss of the early Cambrian as no less than 500,000,000 years. Later +investigations give some of the Pre-Cambrian rocks an antiquity of +1,640 millions of years! The zoologist may now have all the time he +wants for the slowly evolving organisms revealed by the sedimentary +strata. + +Prof. John W. Gruner, of the geology department of the University +of Minnesota, discovered (in 1925) microscopic forms of plant life +(algae) embedded in iron formations of the Vermillion Range near Lake +Armstrong, Minnesota. Most of Minnesota’s iron deposits are due to the +algae, Dr. Gruner thinks. The growth has the property of extracting +iron from sea water and making of it a solid shell with which to +surround itself. Accumulations of these iron shells through millions of +years have been embedded in rock formations forming the iron ore. + +Slices of rock a thousandth of an inch thick were examined under +microscopes in the search for the algae. Algae began to flourish +immediately after the earth, in cooling (according to one cosmological +theory), got below the boiling point. Their form is much like seaweed, +and they thrive at a temperature of 95° C. Dr. Gruner estimates the +age of these algae-bearing deposits at 200,000,000 years, ten million +years earlier than previous evidence showed. + +If we employ the radioactivity test as a measure of geological +time, the age of these fossil algae would have to be placed much +higher--older by hundreds of millions of years. And the same must be +said of the amphibian footprints recently (1925) discovered in the +sandstone slabs of the Grand Canyon, by the caretaker on Hermit’s +Trail, a thousand feet below the rim of the canyon. On the older +geological time scale, these deposits date back some 50,000,000 years +(lower Carboniferous period--the so-called “Mississippian” system). On +the radium time schedule, these figures would need to be multiplied +considerably (according to Boltwood and Holmes, by a multiple of six or +more). It should be said, however, that on the time deposits of Walcott +and Schuchert, based on the rate of deposition of sediments, the +lower Carboniferous (Mississippian) deposits are not older than some +18,000,000 years. + +But amphibian footprints are known from the far older Devonian period, +whose strata are, on the radium basis, some 370 million years old. + +Prof. Charles Schuchert, of Yale, regards the estimates of geological +time based upon the rate of disintegration of radioactive minerals as, +on the whole, far more reliable than estimates based upon the rate of +deposition of sediments. No scientist pretends to be able to state +exactly the age of strata by the amount of radium lead contained in +them. + +“In a third class of cases,” Lord Rayleigh points out, “the uranium +mineral, pitchblende, occurs in a metalliferous vein, and the lead +isotope produced in the mineral is diluted with common lead which +entered into its original composition, ... but the complications +cannot, I think, be considered to modify the broad result. + +“A determination of the amount of helium in minerals gives an +alternative method of estimating geological age; but helium, unlike +lead, is liable to leak away, hence the estimate gives a minimum only. +I have found in this way ages which, speaking generally, are about +one-third of the values which estimates of lead have given, and are, +therefore, generally confirmatory, having regard to leakage of helium.” + +Dr. Homer P. Little, of the National Research Council, Washington, +D. C., tells us (_Scientific American Monthly_, August, 1921, p. 173) +that “from both calculation and experiment it is found that one gram +of uranium will produce helium at the rate of one cubic centimeter in +9,600,000 years. The ratio between the amount of radium in a mineral +and the amount of helium present therefore allows us to calculate the +age of the mineral. The amount of uranium originally present compared +to that left does not enter into the problem unless extreme lengths of +time are under consideration, because of the fact that it is calculated +to take 5,000 million years for one-half a given volume of uranium to +disintegrate. + +“It is perfectly true that much of the helium generated may escape. The +assumption is, however, that in some minerals comparatively little +escapes: zircon, particularly, seems to be an effective retainer. +This mineral shows very effectively the increasing ratio of helium +to uranium as consecutively older rocks are examined. Recent or +Pleistocene specimens from Vesuvius show an apparent age of 1 million +years; Miocene specimens from the Auvergne, France, of 6.3 million. The +Devonian of Norway furnishes specimens 54 million years in age, and the +Upper Cambrian of Colorado specimens of 141 million years; the Archaean +of Ceylon, of the diamond-bearing rocks of South Africa, and of certain +rocks of Ontario furnish specimens aged 286, 321 and 715 million years, +respectively.” + +The following table gives the mean of the results of Professors +Boltwood and Holmes’ careful studies, based upon the accumulation of +lead as a final product of the uranium series: + + MILLIONS OF + YEARS + Carboniferous 340 + Devonian 370 + Pre-Carboniferous 410 + Silurian or Ordovician 430 + Pre-Cambrian: + Sweden 1,025 + United States of America 1,310–1,435 + Ceylon 1,640 + +These results, a total of 1,400,000,000 years, greatly transcend Lord +Rayleigh’s (Strutt’s) earlier calculations regarding the antiquity they +assign to Paleozoic and Pre-Cambrian times. + +In 1918, Prof. Joseph Barrell reviewed the various methods employed +and the results obtained in the attempt to determine from geological, +chemical and physical evidences the time that has elapsed since the +beginning of the Cambrian Period (when abundant fossil invertebrates +are first met with), and reached the following time estimates for +the principal divisions of the geologic record (exclusive of the +Pre-Cambrian rocks): + + Cenozoic time, 55,000,000 to 65,000,000 years long + Mesozoic time, 135,000,000 to 180,000,000 years long + Paleozoic time, 360,000,000 to 540,000,000 years long + +The time thus established covers a period of from 550,000,000 to +700,000,000 years, or from ten to 15 times longer than has usually been +accepted by geologists. Pre-Cambrian time was found to have a similar +order of magnitude; but here the evidence rests largely upon the +radioactivity of the crystalline rocks formed during this vast period. + +It is now universally accepted that the time required for the formation +of the Pre-Cambrian rocks was fully as long as, if not longer than, +that for the succeeding geological divisions. The Archaean deposits +have a vertical thickness, in the regions north of the Great Lakes, +estimated at about 65,000 feet, or 12 miles. Their base, as a matter +of fact, has never been reached. It is interesting to note that the +granites of Norway, Canada, Texas and East Africa have an indicated age +of 1,120,000,000 years, measured in terms of radium products. Prof. +Henry Norris Russell, of Princeton University, concludes, from his +careful investigations in radioactivity, that the age of the earth is +“a moderate multiple of 1000 million years.” + +Professor Joly has computed that if there are two parts of radioactive +material for every million million parts of other matter throughout the +whole volume of the earth, and this is considerably less than he has +found on the average in the earth’s crust, then this earth, instead of +cooling off, is actually now heating up, so that in a hundred million +years the temperature of the core will have risen through 1,800 degrees +centigrade. + +Dr. Millikan observes (_Science_, July 9, 1921) that this is a +temperature “which will melt almost all of our ordinary substances.... +It means that a planet that seems to be dead, as this our earth seems +to be, may, a few eons hence, be a luminous body, and that it may go +through periods of expansion when it radiates enormously, and then of +contraction when it becomes like our present earth, a body which is +a heat insulator and holds in its interior the energy given off by +radioactive processes, until another period of luminosity ensues.” + +Lord Rayleigh’s series of researches for the purpose of determining +the quantity of radium present in a number of representative rocks, +both igneous and sedimentary, seems to prove that the average amount of +radium in the earth’s crust is about 20 times larger than the amount +calculated by Rutherford to be necessary to retain its temperature +unaltered. Joly’s investigations revealed values in general agreement +with these, but in many cases he obtained a value several times greater +than the amount found by Lord Rayleigh. Further investigations showed +that thorium is as widely distributed as radium in the earth’s crust, +which is true also of uranium. + +“Incredible as it may appear,” remarks Rutherford, “the radioactive +bodies must have been steadily radiating energy since the time of their +formation in the earth’s crust. While the activity of uranium itself +must decrease with the lapse of time, the variation is so slow that an +interval measured by millions of years would be required to show any +detectible change.” + +In his 1921 address to the British Association for the Advancement of +Science, Lord Rayleigh said: “It appears certain that the radioactive +materials present in the earth are generating at least as much heat as +is now leaking out from the earth into space. If they are generating +more than this (and there is evidence to suggest that they are), the +temperature must, according to all received views, be rising.” + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AN EPOCH-MAKING DISCOVERY + + +When radium was discovered by Mme. Curie in 1898, the effect upon +the scientific world was startling, not to say “catastrophic”--as +one author wrote at the time--since its activities ran counter to +every known principle of physical science. “Some of the most solid +foundations of science were destroyed, some of its noblest edifices +wrecked, and scientists had to nerve themselves to face and investigate +a new form of energy.” + +So soon as radium compounds (salts) became available, however, the +amount of energy given out in radioactive processes--the emission of +powerful radiations which can be transformed into light and heat--was +measured; and it was found that radium, weight for weight, gives out +as much heat as any known fuel every three days, and in the course of +fifteen years releases a quantity of energy nearly 2,000 times as much +as is obtained from the best fuel, with no signs of exhaustion (Soddy). +In the combustion of coal, the heat evolved is sufficient to raise a +weight of water some 80 to 100 times the weight of the fuel from the +freezing-point to the boiling-point. The spontaneous heat from radium +is sufficient to heat a quantity of water equal to the weight of radium +from the freezing-point to the boiling-point every three-quarters of an +hour. In other words, a pound of radium contains and evolves in its +changes the same amount of energy as 100 tons or more of coal evolve in +their combustion. + +In ordinary chemical changes it is the _molecules_ (groups of +atoms) which are altered or rearranged; in radioactive change +the atoms themselves suffer disintegration and rearrangements. +The energy of radioactivity, then, is--according to the accepted +view--intra-atomic--stored-up energy within the atom itself. It was +calculated by Prof. Curie that the energy of one gram of radium would +suffice to lift a weight of 500 tons to a height of one mile. If it +were possible to obtain one cubic centimeter (a thimbleful) of the +“emanation” from radium in the form of a gas, we should find that it +possessed the power, altogether, of emitting more than seven million +calories of heat! A thimbleful of this invisible gas would be more +than sufficient to raise 15,000 pounds of water 1°. But in every mass +of radium, small or large, not more than 13 trillionths of it is +undergoing change per second. + +“The processes occurring in the radio-elements,” says Rutherford again, +“are of a character quite distinct from any previously observed in +chemistry. Although it has been shown that the radioactivity is due +to the spontaneous and continuous production of new types of active +matter, the laws which control this production are different from the +laws of ordinary chemical reactions. It has not been found possible in +any way to alter either the rate at which the matter is produced or its +rate of change when produced. Temperature, which is such an important +factor in altering the rate of chemical reactions, is, in these cases, +entirely without influence. In addition, no ordinary chemical change is +known which is accompanied by the expulsion of charged atoms with great +velocity.... Besides their high atomic weights, [they] do not possess +in common any special chemical characteristics which differentiate them +from the other elements.” + +It was early observed by Curie and Laborde that the temperature of a +radium salt is always a degree or two above that of the atmosphere, +and they estimated that a gram of pure radium would emit about 100 +gram-calories per hour. Giesel later showed that radium was always at a +temperature 5° higher than the surrounding air, regardless of what the +temperature of the air might be. This continues unchanged whether the +temperature of the surroundings be 250° below zero Centigrade, or in +the intense heat of an electric furnace. + +“Perhaps,” remarks a writer in _The Scientific American_ (February, +1922), “there will come a time when we shall use the energy in the +atoms to drive our machines, cook our food and heat our rooms. Besides, +already today we are actually using--even if only a very tiny part--the +atomic energy. Thus, for instance, the rays emanating from radium +are used for therapeutic purposes and the electrons emanating from a +glowing filament can be directed so easily that they can be used in a +large number of apparatus for wireless telegraphy and telephony. Most +probably plants also make use of this energy in their growth because +it has been demonstrated that the rays of the sun liberate electrons +from the green leaves, and lastly it may also be mentioned that we +humans use a little of this intra-atomic energy when seeing with +our eyes, which we are enabled to do by the photoelectric action of +light.”[A] + +During the course of the process of disintegration, atoms of uranium +and thorium and their products give rise to no fewer than 36 different +substances (A. S. Russell), and of these at least a dozen are “new +elements.” + +All of the 36 radioactive elements are disintegration products of one +or the other of the two parent elements, uranium and thorium. They are +arranged by the chemist in three series: namely, Uranium 1, Uranium 2 +(the Actinium Series), and Thorium. In the first series there are known +to be 15 transmutations of matter; in the second, 11; and in the third, +10. The periods of “half change”--the period required for one-half of a +given quantity of a radioactive element to decompose--of the different +radioactive elements vary all the way from thousands of millions of +years for the longest lived primary elements--2.6x10^{10} years for +thorium, 8x10^9 for uranium 1--to .002 second for actinium A. In the +case of radium itself, 1,670 years are demanded for the disintegration +of half of any portion, according to the exact measurements of Profs. +B. O. Boltwood and Ellen Gleditsch. The stable end product appears to +be in each case an _isotope_ of lead--leads having similar chemical +properties but of different _atomic weights_ (_i.e._, different atomic +composition). + + [A] See Shipley, Maynard, “Electricity and Life,” ch. vi., + Little Blue Book No. 722. + +Isotopes are groups of elements which cannot be distinguished (or +separated from) one another by any known chemical methods, and which +differ only in the atomic weights of the members of the group. In the +radioactive groups, the various elements differ also in degree of +stability of their atoms. + +Chemists cannot actually weigh the mass of an atom of an element on a +pair of scales, or by any other method. But if we put down 16 as the +“atomic weight” of oxygen, and ascertain the “combining weight” (ratio) +of hydrogen to oxygen, we can determine the “atomic weight” of hydrogen +(1.008). (See Shipley, “The A B C of the Electron Theory of Matter,” +p. 14, Little Blue Book, No. 603.) The ratio of the masses of _any_ +two elements in a chemical compound can be very accurately determined. +Without going into the details here, it may be said that the _relative_ +weights of the atoms of any element can be determined to 0.01% in many +cases (by chemical analysis and synthesis); while the _actual_ weight +of any atom has not yet been determined to better than 0.1%. + + +HOW RADIUM IS CONVERTED TO LEAD + +Lead is produced from uranium by a successive series of losses of Alpha +particles--or helium atoms. Omitting the less essential outcomes, or +transition stages, we find that each atom of uranium spontaneously +ejects three atoms of another element, helium, and thereby is +converted into still another element, radium. By losing one atom of +helium, radium, in turn, is converted into the so-called emanation, +or _niton_. The latter quickly loses four more atoms of helium and +is converted into lead, “uranium lead,” having an atomic weight of +206.08. Ordinary (common) lead, constituting the vast bulk of the lead +of the world, has a much higher atomic weight, namely, 207 (Prof. +Theodore Richards). Lead from thorium has an atomic weight of 208; from +actinium, 206. So we have, in fact, four kinds of lead. + +Omitting the less stable transition products, we may say, then, that +an atom of uranium is converted into lead by the loss of eight atoms +of helium--losing three to become radium, then one to become the +emanation, and finally four to become lead. No known human agency can +either retard or hasten this breaking down of the uranium atom into +radium, or of the radium into emanation, with the final production of +lead. + +This statement has been universally accepted as true. Nevertheless, +Dr. A. Glaschler stated (_Nature_ [London], September 12, 1925) that +he had succeeded in accelerating the change of uranium to uranium X +(the first product of uranium 1) by submitting uranium oxide to “strong +rushes of momentary high-tension currents.” As early as 1923, A. Nodon +(_Comp. rend., 176_, 1705 [1923]) brought forward strong evidence of +an increase of the activity of radioactive substances when outdoors +and enclosed by envelopes of small absorbing power for Gamma rays as +contrasted to the smaller radioactivity of the same substances in +cellars and when heavily enveloped by lead. For a tentative explanation +of this phenomenon, see _Science_, January 8, 1926 (Vol. LXIII, No. +1619), pp. 44–45. + +Both uranium and thorium, as we have just stated, break down and become +radium, then change to helium and lead. + +Says Rutherford: “Although thorium is nearly always present in old +uranium minerals and uranium in thorium minerals, there does not appear +to be any radioactive connection between these two elements. Uranium +and thorium are to be regarded as two distinct radioactive elements. + +“With regard to actinium, there is still no definite information of its +place in the scheme of transformations. Boltwood has shown that the +amount of actinium in uranium minerals is proportional to the amount +of uranium. This indicates that actinium, like radium, is in genetic +connection with uranium....” + +The recently discovered product, _protoactinium_,--isolated by Hahn and +Soddy,--is the hitherto missing link between uranium Y and actinium. +“This substance emits Alpha rays and has an estimated period of 10,000 +years. The actinium series is believed to have its origin in a dual +transformation of uranium X. The first branch product, representing +about 4% of the total, is believed to be uranium Y, a Beta-ray product +of period one day. This is directly transformed into protoactinium.” +This element has not yet been obtained in a pure state. + +Many of the radioactive elements are isotropic with known chemical +elements--_i.e._, alike in their chemical properties, but dissimilar +in radioactive properties. Since they cannot be distinguished--or +separated--from the ordinary elements with which they are isotropic, by +any chemical methods, they must occupy the same place in the periodic +classification of the elements. Radium and mesothorium, for example +(as Soddy was first to show) do not have the same atomic weight, but +they cannot be distinguished from each other by any chemical methods. +Therefore they both have the atomic _number_ 88, though the atomic +_weight_ of radium is 226 and of mesothorium 228. (See Shipley, “Origin +and Development of the Atomic Theory,” p. 64, Little Blue Book, No. +608.) Radium D and lead, and thorium and ionium, are examples of +radioactive isotropes. + +The nature of the end-product was first suggested by Boltwood, who +pointed out the invariable presence of lead in old radium minerals, +and in amount to be expected from their uranium content and geologic +age. “Thus,” says Prof. T. W. Richards, of Harvard University, “we +must adopt a kind of limited transmutation of the elements,” although +not of the immediately profitable type [gold] sought by the ancient +alchemists.” + +Sir Ernest Rutherford, who succeeded Sir J. J. Thomson as Cavendish +Professor of Physics at Cambridge University, was first to recognize +that the rays from uranium and radium were not all alike, but consisted +of three distinct kinds. In order to distinguish them clearly, without +committing himself in advance as to their exact nature, he christened +them Alpha, Beta, and Gamma rays--the first three letters of the Greek +alphabet. We know now that the Alpha rays are positively charged helium +atoms, with two negative electrons missing; that the Beta rays are +negatively charged electrons (disembodied “particles” of electricity, +exactly like cathode rays); and that the Gamma rays are a type of +X-rays, not material particles but merely extremely short magnetic +waves or oscillations, akin to ordinary light waves or rays. + +Dr. R. A. Millikan calls them “the wireless waves of the denizens of +the sub-atomic world. They are ether waves, just like light or just +like wireless waves, except that the vibration frequency ... amounts to +30 billion billions per second. These are the Gamma rays.” This means +that this number of light waves would pass a given point in space each +second. Since these rays do not consist of charged particles they are +not deflected by electromagnetic or electrostatic fields, as are the +Alpha and Beta rays. It has been found that one gram of radium ejects +136,000,000,000 particles a second! + +The Gamma rays of radium have such penetrating power that a half-inch +sheet of lead will reduce their original intensity by only one-half, +and they are not absolutely stopped by 20 inches. These invisible +light waves, thousands of times shorter than those of visible light, +are produced whenever a cathode ray (negative electron) hits matter. +Of the atoms forming the substance penetrated, perhaps only one in a +billion is struck. It has been said that the Gamma rays (and X-rays) +are the result of the back-kick of ejected electrons. Prof. Comstock +says that the connection between the Beta rays and the Gamma rays “is +probably similar to that between the bullet and the sound in the case +of a gun.” However this may be, we know that the Gamma rays are, after +all, in essence only excessively minute light waves. While the longest +visible light waves are 0.00008 centimeter, the longest Gamma rays are +0.000000013 centimeter; and whereas the shortest visible light waves +are 0.00004 centimeter, the shortest Gamma rays are but 0.0000000007 +centimeter. + +The Beta particles are ejected with a velocity of from 90,000 to +160,000 miles a second. + +Prof. Gustave Le Bon calculated that it would require 340,000 barrels +of powder to discharge one bullet at this inconceivable speed! These +negatively charged electrons normally revolve around the positively +charged nucleus. Under certain conditions, an electron will make 2200 +billion revolutions within an atom in one second. + +Radium is not only continually losing matter and energy as electricity, +but it is also losing energy as heat. Professor and Mme. Curie +discovered that any substance placed near radium becomes itself +a _false_ radium. This applies to all substances. The acquired +radioactivity persists for many hours, or even days, after the removal +of the radium. In the case of zinc, these secondary radiations were +found to be four times as intense as ordinary uranium. It vanishes +sooner or later upon the removal from the neighborhood of the potent +radium. + +The radioactive something which passes out of radium was not the +already known group of Alpha, Beta and Gamma rays, but an _emanation_ +akin to gas. Rutherford, its original discoverer, was not sure that +it was a gas, so he cautiously gave it the name _emanation_. When the +radium was heated, or dissolved in water, the quantity of emanation +was greatly increased, which seemed to show that it was a gas of +some kind occluded (bound up) in the radium. The quantity obtained +was insufficient to bring the emanation within the testing power of +spectroscope or balance. + +Nevertheless, the emanation has been detected, and investigated by the +electroscope, which measures the radium rays by the power to discharge +its electrified gold leaves. “The electroscope is about a million +times more sensitive than the most sensitive spectroscope and yet the +spectroscope is capable of detecting easily the millionth part of a +milligram of matter” (Duncan). + +Calculations made by Rutherford show that if a thimbleful of this +active gas could be collected, the bombardment of its powerful rays +would heat to a red heat, or even might melt down, the walls of the +glass containing it. The emanation emits only Alpha rays (or particles) +forming helium. + +The radium from which the emanation has been abstracted, after the +lapse of an hour or so, loses 75% of its activity. During the course +of a single month, radium will be found to have restored all its lost +emanation. In thirty days it will have regained all its original +activity. It was soon discovered that the emanation abstracted from the +radium loses its radioactivity at the same rate and according to the +same laws as the de-emanated radium regains it. The radium is therefore +said to be “in equilibrium with its products.” + +Since these processes are wholly outside the sphere of known +controllable forces, and cannot be created, altered or destroyed--“since +the process is independent of the chemical form of the radium, whether +bromide, chloride, sulphate, etc., we are absolutely shut up to the +conviction that it is a function of the atom. We are in the presence of +an actual decay of the atom. The atom of radium breaks down into atoms +of emanation and the atoms of emanation in their turn break down into +something else. The activity of emanation decays and falls to half value +in about 3.7 days.” + +Although the amount of emanation produced from a gram of radium +does not amount to more than a needle-point of the gas (= 1.3 cubic +millimeter), this is sufficient to raise the temperature of 75 grams +of water 1° per hour, which is enough heat to melt _more than its own +weight of ice_ in an hour, and to raise it to the boiling-point in the +next hour, which is equivalent to 60,000 horse-power days! In other +words, the heat evolved by the radium emanation is more than 3,500,000 +times greater than that produced in any known chemical reaction: such +as, for example, the union of oxygen and hydrogen to form water. + +It was soon discovered that if the spectrum of this mysterious gas--or +radium emanation--be examined again after an interval of about four +weeks, it has changed into a familiar spectrum easily recognized as +that of the gaseous element known as helium. Here the chemist comes +face to face with the astounding fact that the element radium is +decomposed and produces another element, helium--a discovery made by +Ramsay and Soddy in the summer of 1903. + +In the successive radioactive changes, one Alpha particle (sometimes +called “ray”) is ejected from each atom disintegrated by the change--in +some cases, at least, accompanied by Beta particles (negative +electrons). The Alpha particle, as already stated, is really an atom of +helium carrying two atomic charges of positive electricity--twice that +of an atom of hydrogen. Strictly speaking, the Alpha particle is only +the _nucleus_ of a helium atom, since it has lost two of its negatively +charged electrons, which are combined in the ordinary helium atom. The +exact velocity of the expelled Alpha particle “varies in the different +radioactive elements” (Joly)--say from 10,000 to 18,000 miles each +second--a velocity sufficient to carry the particle around the earth in +less than two seconds, if unchecked. + +But these relatively heavy particles (of atomic size) are actually soon +checked, even by seven centimeters (about a third of a foot) of air. +The Beta particle (1,845 the mass of a hydrogen atom) “shoots a hundred +times as far [as the Alpha particle] and the Gamma rays are a hundred +times more penetrating still” (Millikan). But the Alpha particle is +sometimes ejected with a velocity nearly 40,000 times that of a rifle +bullet,--the velocity of the latter being about half a mile a second. +Even the super-guns which bombarded Paris could not eject a projectile +with a speed of more than about a mile a second. Rutherford observes +that if it were possible to give an equal velocity to an iron cannon +ball, the heat generated on a target would be many thousand times more +than sufficient to melt the cannon ball and dissipate it into vapor. + +The flashes of light seen when the Alpha rays bombard a screen of zinc +sulphide, as in Crookes’ spinthariscope, are due to cleavages produced +in the zinc sulphide crystals by the impact of the Alpha rays (positive +ions). Each impact on a crystal produces a splash of light big enough +to be seen by a microscope. + +In the phosphorescence caused by the approach of an emanation of radium +to zinc sulphate, the atoms throw off the Alpha (helium) particles to +the number of five billion each second, with velocities of 10,000 miles +or more a second. If the helium projectile should chance to “crash” +into an atom of nitrogen or of oxygen, an atom of hydrogen can be +knocked out of it, as was discovered by Sir Ernest Rutherford, perhaps +the most distinguished of Mme. Curie’s pupils. (Strictly speaking, the +disintegration particles are isotropes of helium, of atomic weight +3, the atomic weight of helium being 4.) Despite its large size as +compared with an electron (or Beta particle), the Alpha particle passes +through a glass wall without leaving a hole behind, and without in any +way interfering with the molecules of the glass. It shoots through +hundreds of thousands of atoms without ever going near enough to them +to be deflected from its course. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +RADIUM IN THE TREATMENT OF CANCER + + +The action of radium on human tissues was unknown until 1896, when +Prof. Henri Becquerel of Paris, having incautiously carried a lump of +pitchblende in his pocket, discovered on his skin, within two weeks, a +severe inflammation, or ulcer, which was known as the famous “Becquerel +burn.” As physicians of the nineteenth century were accustomed to +burn out cancers with caustics, the idea occurred to them that the +application of radium might prove to be an improvement on the older +method. + +It has proved to be so, affording in many cases not only relief, +but in some instances, even a cure, not only for cancer, but for +many other ailments--as we shall see presently. Since that time +active investigation into the action of radium on diseased tissues +has been carried on, resulting in the establishment in Paris of +the “_Laboratoire biologique du Radium_,” and also of the Radium +Institute of Vienna, followed by the establishment of somewhat similar +institutions in various other countries, notably in England and the +United States. + +One of the most famous institutions for radiotherapy is the recently +established Radium Institute of Paris, under the management of Mme. +Curie and Professor Debierne. This is composed of two distinct +compartments. In one the scientific properties of radium are studied, +while the other is devoted to its therapeutic applications. Dr. Regaud, +who is in charge of the latter department (a branch of the widely known +Pasteur Institute), endeavors to cure cancer and tumors by application +of radium and X-rays. + +New York City boasts a magnificently equipped Radium Institute, under +the directorship of Dr. C. Everett Field. And an even more famous +institution is that founded by the Mayo brothers, in Rochester, +Minnesota, where these eminent surgeons had accumulated an entire +gram of radium as early, at least, as 1920--the largest amount owned +by private individuals. This great institution--now known as the Mayo +Foundation--is no longer privately owned, but it is still under the +direction of the Mayos. + +Radiotherapy (or, in France, _curietherapy_, in honor of the discoverer +of radium) or the treatment of various diseases by radioactive +substances, has not been applied so extensively as has treatment by +X-rays (Roentgen rays), produced in vacuum tubes. On the other hand, +the X-rays are not so effective (as usually applied) in the treatment +of certain morbid conditions as are the more penetrating Gamma rays +from radioactive substances; though the latter are essentially +identical with X-rays--swift Beta particles, or negative electrons--of +very short wave-length. To produce X-rays as penetrating as the Gamma +rays, about two million volts would have to be “cut” on the discharge +tube. + +The Alpha rays are not often used in medical practice, and have little +penetrating power. They are stopped by 3½ cm. of air, or by a thin +sheet of paper. They are employed only in the way of radium “emanation” +(a gas) dissolved in saline solution, or by the use of needles upon +which active deposit from radium emanation has been collected. “In +either case the emanation water or the active deposit needles must be +introduced into the system--whether intravenously or into the solid +tissues,--otherwise the Alpha rays would have no power to act. In +either case, too, they act along with the Beta and Gamma rays produced +by the active deposit” (Lozarus-Barlow). + +Beta radiation is used only for superficial conditions and always in +conjunction with Gamma radiation. “Instead of a radium salt, one of +its products, viz., radium emanation, is often employed chemically. +No essential difference is introduced by the use of this emanation +excepting that its intensity undergoes a progressive diminution with +time, since it falls to half value in 3.85 days. Early rodent cancer, +certain conditions of the eyelids, some cutaneous non-malignant tumors +and birth-marks, are treated successfully in this way.” + +Physicians of the Memorial Hospital, New York City, announced in +October, 1925, that by filtering out 90% of the caustic Beta rays +emanating from radium and the high voltage X-ray tube, and using +principally the healing and stimulating Gamma rays, radiation treatment +of cancer of the tongue, lips, nose, ears or other part of the head has +been greatly improved. + +In the first six months after the new method was begun, more than 100 +cases had been treated with what were considered very satisfactory +results. Owing to the elimination of the caustic rays, much stronger +applications of the beneficial rays can be used, and painful effects +are largely obviated. + +If experience and special research lead eventually to successful +treatment of cancer, it will be a great boon to the human race. The +United States leads the world in deaths from this dread disease, with +its average of 90 per 100,000 of the population. The mean average of +cancer deaths in Europe is 76, in Asia 54, in Africa 33, in Oceania +73. Several races, including the American Indians, are stated to +be entirely free from cancer, and others are partially immune. The +Japanese, for example, are subject to all forms except cancer of the +breast. Eighty-five percent of Americans afflicted with this malady are +persons over 40 years of age. + +Science Service states that a careful analysis of cancer statistics +gathered by the United States Census Bureau over a period of about 20 +years in ten Eastern states reveals definitely that cancer mortality +is from 25 to 30% higher than it was about 20 years ago. This is the +claim of Dr. J. W. Schereschewsky, of the United States Public Health +Service, who made the statistical analysis and reported it to the +American Medical Association. “There has been a pronounced increase in +the observed death rate from cancer in persons 40 years old and over in +the ten states comprising the original death registration area,” Dr. +Schereschewsky said. “Part of this increase is due to greater precision +and accuracy in the filling out of death returns, but the remainder is +an actual increase in the mortality of the disease.” + +The only way to stop the ravages of cancer, says the Paris Academy of +Medicine, is to diagnose it early--in time for operation. For this +to be practicable, physicians must be specially instructed. Family +doctors are often ignorant of all but a few forms of cancer and do +not recognize it in its first manifestations. Women of 40 to 50 are +apt to consider little irregularities of bleeding to be associated +with the menopause and therefore harmless. Often this is right, but +unfortunately the bleeding from an early cancer may not differ in the +slightest degree from such harmless irregularities and by the time +other symptoms have developed, the cancer has perhaps grown through +the wall of the uterus and has spread to regions where no treatment +can hope to reach it. The only safe rule to go by is to seek expert +investigation for any unusual or irregular bleeding or discharge, +however slight, especially if these occur at or near the “change of +life.” + +One phase of this subject of special interest is that of the use of +radium in the treatment of cancer, especially of the neck or lower +end of the uterus. There is already sufficient evidence to warrant +the statement that some cancers of this region have been permanently +cured by radium alone. And as a relief measure in the late and hopeless +stages of the disease, radium prolongs life, relieves pain and adds +much to the comfort of the victim. + +It has been amply demonstrated that radium treatment increases the +permanency of the results obtained by surgery, and often converts +inoperable into operable cases. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +EFFICIENCY OF RADIUM IN TREATMENT OF VARIOUS DISEASES + + +In 1923, Dr. R. E. Loucks, president of the American Radium Society, +announced that toxic goiter had been cured by radium. Exophthalmic +goiter has been, in most cases, successfully treated by irradiation. +Just how the cure is effected is still unknown; for the thyroid body +from animals exposed for many hours to the Gamma irradiations of +radium bromide shows no perceptible histological changes. Yet far +less radiation produces marked changes in the tadpoles derived from +normal ova fertilized by spermatazoa which have been radiated in the +frog, though no testicular changes can be detected with certainty +(Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 32, p. 224, 12th Ed.). + +Among other diseases which have been more or less successfully +treated by radium may be mentioned lupus vulgarus, epithelial tumors, +syphilitic ulcers, chronic itching of the skin, papillomata (an +epithelial tumor formed by hypertrophy of the papillae of the skin +or mucuous membrane, as a corn or a wart), angiomata (tumor composed +chiefly of dilated blood or lymph vessels), pigmentary naevi (blemish +of the skin due to pigment, as a birth-mark), and pruritus (itching). +Radium has been particularly effective in treating serious affections +of the eyes, as was first fully demonstrated by Dr. Walter S. Franklin +and Frederick C. Cordes, of San Francisco. + +The most brilliant successes of radium have been in those cases “where +some serious complicating ailment, such as heart disease, tuberculosis, +Bright’s disease, or an extreme anemia, contra-indicates anesthesia +or any procedure which will tax the patient’s vital resources; radium +steps in and does its work quietly, imperceptibly and, indeed, without +the slightest risk to life.” + +Dr. Howard A. Kelly, of Johns Hopkins University, has been very +successful in curing swollen masses of glands on the sides of the neck, +cancer of the thyroid and of the cervix, and sarcoma of the chest. +Dr. E. S. Molyneaux of London, has cured obdurate cases of tubercular +glands in the neck, a disease rather frequent among children. Thanks +to the patient researches of Dr. John A. Marshall, associate professor +of biochemistry and dental pathology at the University of California, +it is now known that a radioactive liquid may be used for sterilizing +infected tissue. Experiments employing the radioactive liquid in the +treatment of root canals have been conducted at the George Williams +Hooper Foundation for Medical Research and at the College of Dentistry +of the University of California. + +Within the time that the new antiseptic has been in use at these +colleges, 85% of all the cases treated have been successful; and, +with one exception, no soreness or pain has followed its use. This +radioactive preparation is a solution of radium salts, “Radium D plus +E,” which results from the decomposition of radium emanation, which, +readily soluble in water, possesses definite radioactive properties. In +making the solution the tiny capillary tubes containing the decomposed +radium are crushed under water in a mortar and the liquid is then ready +for use in the treatment of an ulcerated root of a tooth. + +Dr. Marshall had been working with radium for months before +admitting the success of his investigations, which were conducted +in a long series of experiments on the lower animals. “Microscopic +examinations of abscessed tissue,” he said, “which have been treated +with radioactive solutions, indicate that the bacteria producing the +affection were killed. And in no cases observed has the treatment +produced radium burns; the amounts used have been too small and the +effects of too transitory a nature. That sterilization of tissue can be +produced, however, seems apparent. + +“The discovery is purely of academic interest because of the fact +that radium is too expensive, and it is possible to obtain it only in +limited quantities; so that the chief value of the discovery will rest +in the fact that it will stimulate further work for the identification +of more accessible material.” + +In external treatment by radium itself, emanations from a certain +quantity of radium are allowed to focus on parts of the body over the +diseased organs. Thus the curative functions of the diseased portion +are stimulated to activity. The atrophying of diseased tonsils has +been the most successful use of this form of treatment. + +In the destruction of disease germs the radium emanation has been +found more useful than the direct rays. The emanations kill or check +the growth of anthrax, typhoid, and diphtheric germs. The direct +rays are efficient in the relief of severe cases of enurites and +facial neuralgia, cancer, tumors, affections of the skin and abnormal +growths. Dr. Guyenot has proved that radium effects a complete cure for +rheumatism, which he accounts for in these words: “Uric acid circulates +in the blood in the form of urate of soda, of which there are two +isomeric forms differing from each other by their respective solubility +in the blood plasms. The soluble salt is converted into an insoluble +form.” Radium breaks up this compound. The “rheumatism” disappears. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +WHERE WE GET RADIUM + + +The extraction process consists in eliminating the various substances +in the ore until only the radium salts are left. But, in the case of +carnotite, more than 900 different operations, requiring six months of +labor, are required between the digging of the ore and the production +of a gram of pure radium salt. A solution containing barium and radium +salts in the ratio of ten parts of radium to a billion is treated with +sulphate to precipitate an insoluble “raw sulphate of barium.” + +Radium ores are generally found in connection with granitic +masses--_i.e._, in places where granite forms at least part of the +rock of the country. The carnotite ore usually consists of a thin +layer of sandstone which crops out on the side of a canyon wall and is +recognized by the characteristic sulphur-yellow color. The narrow seams +are usually in the form of pockets, so that the value of a claim is +dubious until it has been thoroughly explored and worked. + +Most of the original radium minerals, such as uraninite, samarskite, +and brannerite, are black and have a shiny fracture and a high specific +gravity. These minerals are, however, rarely found in commercially +valuable quantities. + +Pitchblende, the richest source of radium, has the same composition +as uraninite and the same general appearance, except that it shows +no crystal form. It occurs in veins. There are extensive deposits of +pitchblende or uraninite at Joachimstahl, Bohemia (Czecho-Slovakia), +containing from 30 to 70 per cent uranium oxide, from which the radium +is extracted. But here the uranium ore occurs in small pockets in +widely separated localities, so that it is merely a by-product of other +mining operations. However, after separation of the uranium from the +ore, the residues are three to five times as radioactive, weight for +weight, as the uranium. The amount of radium in old unaltered mineral +is always proportional to its content of uranium in the ratio of 3.3 +parts of radium by weight to ten million parts of uranium. + +New radium ore fields were discovered in Czecho-Slovakia in 1922. The +production of radium in that country increased from .7746 gram in 1911, +to 1.7118 grams in 1915, and 2.2310 grams in 1920. In 1922, steps were +taken to modernize the plants in the Jachcymov district (Bohemia), +where the known supply will last 20 years at the present rate of +production--a little more than two grams a year. + +The famous Joachimstahl pitchblende deposits were a monopoly of the +Austrian Government before the World War, but they are now being +worked by the Imperial and Foreign Corporation of London, under an +agreement with the Czecho-Slovak Government. In 1922 a loan of two +grams of radium (valued at more than $300,000) was made to Oxford +University, for a period of fifteen years. This material is being used +for experimental purposes by Prof. Frederick Soddy, of Oxford, and his +associates. It has been stated that one of the chief objectives is +the discovery of a method for the release and control of intra-atomic +energy. + +Pitchblende has been found in only a few places--in Bohemia +(Czecho-Slovakia), southern Saxony, Cornwall, and Gilpin County, +Colorado. So far, this ore has not been the source of any radium +produced in this country. + +When the original radium minerals (uraninite, samarskite, brannerite, +etc.) break down through weathering, other radium minerals are formed +from them, such as autunite, trobernite, carnotite, and tyuyamunite. +The two latter ores are the most widespread and abundant. Autunite, a +phosphate of calcium and uranium, is as active as uranium. Carnotite +and tyuyamunite cannot be distinguished visually from each other. +Both are a bright canary-yellow in color, and are powdery, finely +crystalline, or, rarely, clay-like in texture. Both these minerals are +found in the same section of Utah and of Colorado, usually associated +with fossil wood and other vegetation, in friable, porous, fine-grained +sandstone. + +The only other deposits that yield tyuyamunite in marked quantity are +those of Tyua-Muyun, in the Andiyan district, Ferghana Government, +central Asiatic Russia (Russian Turkestan), where it occurs with rich +copper ores in a pipe in limestone. + +The radium salts--hydrous sulphate, chloride, or bromide--are all white +or nearly white substances, no more remarkable in appearance than +common salt. Neither radium nor the radium minerals are in themselves +luminescent. Tubes containing radium salts glow because they include +impurities which the invisible radiations from the radium cause to give +light. The pure radium metal has been isolated only two or three times, +and few persons have seen it. + + +NEW SOURCES OF RADIUM + +In 1921, a rich deposit of pitchblende was discovered in the province +of Ontario, Canada. Since 1921 there has been a rather considerable +exportation of radioactive minerals from Madagascar; and in 1922 +deposits of uranium oxide (U_3O_8) were discovered in Switzerland. +During the same year an unknown Belgian traveler sold to a curio dealer +a strange stone picked up in the Congo. The dealer sold it to the +British Museum. Upon examination the stone was found to be radioactive. +Belgian geologists were immediately informed, and a Belgian mission +was sent to the Katanga district, where the stone was found. Two veins +of chalcolite (torbernite) containing substances rich in radium were +soon located by the geologists, one near the Portuguese frontier. +Chalcolite, the crystallized phosphate of copper and uranium, is twice +as active as uranium. + +The newly discovered mineral has been given the name “curite,” +in honor of Mme. Curie, the discoverer of radium. These deposits +are now known to be the richest in the world. And, what is hardly +less important, the radium may be isolated by simple dissolution in +nitric acid, even in the cold. It is also readily dissolved in warm +hydrochloric acid. Only 15 tons of the ore need to be treated to +produce a gram of radium. + +Curite is found in three forms, as translucent reddish brown +needle-like crystals; as compact saccharoid crystalline aggregates, +orange in color; and as orange-colored earthy masses surrounding the +preceding variety. The chemical composition is expressed by the formula +2(PbO)5(UO_3)4(H_2O). + +In 1924 a pitchblende deposit, very rich in radium, was discovered in +Ferghana, in Russian Turkestan. Soviet Russia is now mining the ore and +extracting the radium, which is kept at the Radium Institute of the +Academy of Science. + +Curiously enough, more than $500,000 worth of radium has been added to +the world’s store of this valuable element by “boiling down” British +cannons used in the World War. No fewer than five grams--less than a +tablespoonful--have been secured by British scientists by this process. +The radium is stored in a lead safe weighing almost two tons--a +container which was invented by a Dr. Kuss, and the composition of +which is known only to himself. One of the greatest difficulties of +scientists has been to find some material which would prevent the +constant bombardment of the radium rays. + +One important result of these recent discoveries--especially that of +the Congo deposits--is that the price of radium dropped $30,000 a gram, +and sells now at the rate of $70,000 a gram instead of some $100,000. +The Standard Chemical Company of Denver, Colorado, has been obliged to +close down its three-story laboratory, which until the close of the +year 1922 had, for several years previously, been producing a million +dollars’ worth of radium annually. The Paradox Valley carnotite ore +cannot be worked in competition with the rich deposits of the Belgian +Congo. It has been stated that five pounds annually could be produced +from these Congo deposits. The Colorado company had been selling at the +rate of $58,500,000 a pound. The Congo company can profitably sell the +precious element at $29,250,000 less a pound. + +So, unless war breaks out again to prevent shipments from abroad, the +United States of America will produce no more radium for a long while +to come. + + +THE RADIOACTIVE DISINTEGRATION SERIES + +In order to show the decomposition products of the two parent +radioactive elements--Uranium and Thorium--and their chief +characteristics, together with their relations to one another, and the +time required for the product (element) to be half transformed, it is +customary to arrange them in a _disintegration series_. There are +three series, Uranium I, Uranium Y, and Thorium. + +In the first table given below is shown how the series known as +Uranium I is transformed into the end-product, uranium lead. This is +followed by the Uranium Y (or Actinium) series, and by the Thorium +series; the end-product of all three being a characteristic type of +lead. In the tables T is the “time-period” of a product, or the time +required for the product to be _half transformed_. In the column +“Rays” is shown what type of ray, or rays, is, or are, emitted during +the disintegration process--A=Alpha rays (or particles), B=Beta +rays (negative electrons), and G=Gamma rays (or X-rays of very high +“frequency”). + +“In the great majority of cases,” says Sir Ernest Rutherford, “each +of the radioactive elements breaks up in a definite way, giving rise +to one Alpha or Beta particle and to one atom of the new product. +Undoubted evidence, however, has been obtained that in a few cases the +atoms break up in two or more distinct ways, giving rise to two or more +products characterized by different radioactive properties. A branching +of the uranium series was early demanded in order to account for the +origin of Actinium.” + +In the first column is given the “atomic weight” of each radioactive +element, the weight decreasing with (almost) every “disintegration +period.” The figures followed by an interrogation point are +Rutherford’s, and indicate that slightly different figures are given by +other authorities. + + +URANIUM I SERIES + + T (average Rays (given out in + Element Atomic time-period--half each + Weight transformed) decomposition) + --------------------------------------------------------------------- + Uranium I 238 4.5 × 10^9 yrs. Alpha + Uranium X1 234 23.8 days Beta, Gamma + Uranium X2 234 1.15 min. Beta, Gamma + Uranium II 234 About 2 × 10^6 yrs. Alpha + Ionium 230 About 9 × 10^4 yrs. Alpha + Radium 226 (+) 1700 yrs. Alpha + Niton (Emanation) 222 3.85 days Alpha + Radium A 218 3.05 min. (?) Alpha + Radium B 214 26.8 min. (?) Beta, Gamma + Radium C 214 19.5 min. (?) Alpha, Beta, Gamma + Radium C′ 214 10^{-6} sec. (?) Alpha + Radium D 210 (+) 16 yrs. Beta, Gamma + Radium E 210 (+) 4.85 days Beta, Gamma + Radium F (Polonium) 210 (+) 136.5 days Alpha + Radium G (End-product 206 ............... ............... + uranium-lead) + --------------------------------------------------------------------- + + +URANIUM Y (ACTINIUM) SERIES + + T (average Rays (given out in + Element Atomic time-period--half each + Weight transformed) decomposition) + --------------------------------------------------------------------- + Uranium Y (branching 234 (+) 24.6 hrs. Beta + from Uranium II) (2.2 days?) + Protoactinium 230 About 10^4 yrs. (?) Alpha + Actinium 226 20 yrs. Beta + Radio-actinium 226 19 days Alpha + Actinium X 222 (+) 11.2 days Alpha + Actinium (Emanation) 218 3.92 sec. Alpha + Actinium A 214 .002 sec. Alpha + Actinium B 210 36 min. (?) Beta, Gamma + Actinium C 210 2.16 min. (?) Alpha + Actinium D 206 4.76 min. Beta, Gamma + Actinium E (End-product 206 ............... ............... + actinium-lead) + --------------------------------------------------------------------- + + +THORIUM SERIES + + T (average Rays (given out in + Element Atomic time-period--half each + Weight transformed) decomposition) + --------------------------------------------------------------------- + Thorium 232.1 2.2 × 10^{10} yrs. Alpha + Mesothorium I 228 6.7 yrs. Beta, Gamma + Mesothorium II 228 6.2 hrs. (?) Beta, Gamma + Radio-thorium 228 1.90 yrs. (?) Alpha + Thorium X 224 3.64 days Alpha + Thorium (Emanation) 220 54 sec. (?) Alpha + Thorium A 216 .14 sec. (?) Alpha + Thorium B 216 10.6 hrs. (?) Beta, Gamma + Thorium C 212 60 min. (?) Alpha + Thorium D 208 3.2 min. (?) Beta, Gamma + Thorium E (End-product 208 ............... ............... + thorium-lead) + --------------------------------------------------------------------- + + + + +Transcriber’s Notes + + +Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a +predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they +were not changed. + +Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation +marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left +unbalanced. + +This book uses terminology that was current at the time of publication, +and reflects the state of science as it was understood by the author at +that time. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75392 *** |