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Haldeman-Julius</p> + +<h1>The Wonders<br> +of Radium</h1> + +<p class="larger">Maynard Shipley</p> + +<p class="p2">HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY<br> +GIRARD, KANSAS</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div> </div> +</div> + +<div class="section center"> +<p class="p4">Copyright, 1926,<br> +Haldeman-Julius Company</p> + +<p class="p2">PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div> </div> +</div> + +<div class="section"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_WONDERS_OF_RADIUM">THE WONDERS OF RADIUM</h2> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div> </div> +</div> + +<div class="chapter section"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</h2> + +<table id="toc"> +<tr> + <td class="tdr"></td> + <td class="tdl"></td> + <td class="tdr">Page</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr top">I.</td> + <td class="tdl">Introductory</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_5">5</a></td> +</tr> +<tr class="bpad"> + <td class="tdr top"></td> + <td class="tdl">All Matter Radioactive</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_9">9</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr top">II.</td> + <td class="tdl">Everyday Uses of Radium</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_16">16</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr top"></td> + <td class="tdl">Radium Makes Gems Blush</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_18">18</a></td> +</tr> +<tr class="bpad"> + <td class="tdr top"></td> + <td class="tdl">A Radium Clock</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_19">19</a></td> +</tr> +<tr class="bpad"> + <td class="tdr top">III.</td> + <td class="tdl">Radium and the Age of the Earth</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_21">21</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr top">IV.</td> + <td class="tdl">An Epoch-Making Discovery</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_30">30</a></td> +</tr> +<tr class="bpad"> + <td class="tdr top"></td> + <td class="tdl">How Radium is Converted to Lead</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_34">34</a></td> +</tr> +<tr class="bpad"> + <td class="tdr top">V.</td> + <td class="tdl">Radium in the Treatment of Cancer</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_45">45</a></td> +</tr> +<tr class="bpad"> + <td class="tdr top">VI.</td> + <td class="tdl">Efficiency of Radium in Treatment of Various Diseases</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_51">51</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr top">VII.</td> + <td class="tdl">Where We Get Radium</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_55">55</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr top"></td> + <td class="tdl">New Sources of Radium</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_58">58</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr top"></td> + <td class="tdl">The Radioactive Disintegration Series</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_60">60</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr top"></td> + <td class="tdl">Uranium I Series</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_62">63</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr top"></td> + <td class="tdl">Uranium Y Series</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_63">63</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdr top"></td> + <td class="tdl">Thorium Series</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#toclink_64">64</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +</div> + +<div class="chapter section"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">5</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" title="THE_WONDERS_OF_RADIUM"><span class="larger">THE WONDERS OF RADIUM</span></h2> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I"><span id="toclink_5"></span>CHAPTER I<br> + +<span class="subhead">INTRODUCTORY</span></h2> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">6</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“During the tests radioactivity of samples +was determined by means of electroscopes.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">7</span> +the body. And when once these begin to function +actively, they begin to rebuild themselves.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">8</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>When we speak of “radium,” we really mean—or +ought to mean—<em>radium salts</em>. 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.</p> + +<p>The reason for the high cost of radium is +not far to seek. First, the demand for the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">9</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h3 id="toclink_9">ALL MATTER RADIOACTIVE</h3> + +<p>While certain substances have been designated +as “radioactive,” it is not to be understood +that these bodies alone emit charged particles, +or radiant energy.</p> + +<p>“All bodies whatever are a constant source<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">10</span> +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).</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>It is probably safe to assert, with Le Bon, +that all matter, “down to the absolute zero of +temperature,” radiates electrified and more or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">11</span> +less luminous particles, albeit they are invisible +to the human eye.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">12</span> +was not longer possible then to keep it in +action. Then he substituted a radium solution +and it was possible to restore action.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“Because of this fact,” says a writer for <cite>The +Popular Science Monthly</cite> (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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">13</span> +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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">14</span> +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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Some recent (1924) experiments of the +French scientist, Dr. Albert Nodon, seem to +afford the actual proof of Le Bon’s <i lang="la">a priori</i> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <cite>Popular +Science Monthly</cite>, October, 1924).</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">15</span></p> + +<p>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).</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">16</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II"><span id="toclink_16"></span>CHAPTER II<br> + +<span class="subhead">EVERYDAY USES OF RADIUM</span></h2> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Unless a special preparation—known only to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">17</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Mr. M. A. Henry (<cite>Scientific American</cite>, 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">18</span></p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h3 id="toclink_18">RADIUM MAKES GEMS BLUSH</h3> + +<p>D. Berthelot, F. Bordes, C. Doelter, and +others observed that the rays from radium induced +important changes in the colors of minerals.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">19</span> +permanent, the discovery will greatly increase +the value of the gem-stone material found in +the west.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h3 id="toclink_19">A RADIUM CLOCK</h3> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">20</span> +wire with a special transformer. Under these +conditions the earth and atmospheric currents +attract each other through reciprocal induction.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“However, such illumination will soon be +much cheaper, because of new discoveries as +to the best materials to combine with radium +to produce light.”</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">21</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III"><span id="toclink_21"></span>CHAPTER III<br> + +<span class="subhead">RADIUM AND THE AGE OF THE EARTH</span></h2> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>All of the 36 known radio-elements are disintegration +products of the primary radio-elements +uranium and thorium—<i>i.e.</i>, 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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">22</span> +(Helium atoms are “the debris shed at the +various stages of the transformation.”)</p> + +<p>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<sup>-11</sup> grams +of helium and 1.22 x 10<sup>-10</sup> grams of lead +(isotrope) <i lang="la">per annum</i>. 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” (<cite>Nature</cite>, +October 27, 1921).</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“In other cases,” says Lord Rayleigh, “there +is some complication, owing to the fact that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">23</span> +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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">24</span> +estimates the age of these algae-bearing +deposits at 200,000,000 years, ten million years +earlier than previous evidence showed.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>But amphibian footprints are known from the +far older Devonian period, whose strata are, on +the radium basis, some 370 million years old.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“In a third class of cases,” Lord Rayleigh<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">25</span> +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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>Dr. Homer P. Little, of the National Research +Council, Washington, D. C., tells us (<cite>Scientific +American Monthly</cite>, 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.</p> + +<p>“It is perfectly true that much of the helium +generated may escape. The assumption is, however, +that in some minerals comparatively little<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">26</span> +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.”</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<table id="t26"> +<tr> + <td class="tdl"></td> + <td class="tdc">MILLIONS OF YEARS</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Carboniferous</td> + <td class="tdc">340</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Devonian</td> + <td class="tdc">370</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Pre-Carboniferous</td> + <td class="tdc">410</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Silurian or Ordovician</td> + <td class="tdc">430</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Pre-Cambrian:</td> + <td></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="in1">Sweden</span></td> + <td class="tdc">1,025</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="in1">United States of America</span></td> + <td class="tdc">1,310–1,435</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="in1">Ceylon</span></td> + <td class="tdc">1,640</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">27</span></p> + +<p>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):</p> + +<ul> +<li> +Cenozoic time, 55,000,000 to 65,000,000 years long</li> +<li>Mesozoic time, 135,000,000 to 180,000,000 years long</li> +<li>Paleozoic time, 360,000,000 to 540,000,000 years long +</li> +</ul> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">28</span> +in radioactivity, that the age of the +earth is “a moderate multiple of 1000 million +years.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Dr. Millikan observes (<cite>Science</cite>, 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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">29</span> +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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.”</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">30</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV"><span id="toclink_30"></span>CHAPTER IV<br> + +<span class="subhead">AN EPOCH-MAKING DISCOVERY</span></h2> +</div> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">31</span> +radium contains and evolves in its changes the +same amount of energy as 100 tons or more of +coal evolve in their combustion.</p> + +<p>In ordinary chemical changes it is the <em>molecules</em> +(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.</p> + +<p>“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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">32</span> +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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“Perhaps,” remarks a writer in <cite>The Scientific +American</cite> (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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">33</span> +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 id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">A</a></p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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<sup>10</sup> years +for thorium, 8x10<sup>9</sup> 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 <em>isotope</em> of lead—leads<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">34</span> +having similar chemical properties but +of different <em>atomic weights</em> (<i>i.e.</i>, different +atomic composition).</p> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">A</a> See Shipley, Maynard, “Electricity and Life,” +ch. vi., Little Blue Book No. 722.</p> + +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>any</em> two elements in a chemical compound +can be very accurately determined. Without +going into the details here, it may be said that +the <em>relative</em> weights of the atoms of any element +can be determined to 0.01% in many +cases (by chemical analysis and synthesis); +while the <em>actual</em> weight of any atom has not +yet been determined to better than 0.1%.</p> + +<h3 id="toclink_34">HOW RADIUM IS CONVERTED TO LEAD</h3> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">35</span> +is converted into still another element, radium. +By losing one atom of helium, radium, in turn, +is converted into the so-called emanation, or +<em>niton</em>. 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>This statement has been universally accepted +as true. Nevertheless, Dr. A. Glaschler stated +(<cite>Nature</cite> [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 (<cite>Comp. +rend., 176</cite>, 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">36</span> +radioactivity of the same substances in cellars +and when heavily enveloped by lead. For a +tentative explanation of this phenomenon, see +<cite>Science</cite>, January 8, 1926 (Vol. LXIII, No. 1619), +pp. 44–45.</p> + +<p>Both uranium and thorium, as we have just +stated, break down and become radium, then +change to helium and lead.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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....”</p> + +<p>The recently discovered product, <em>protoactinium</em>,—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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">37</span></p> + +<p>Many of the radioactive elements are isotropic +with known chemical elements—<i>i.e.</i>, +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 <em>number</em> 88, though the +atomic <em>weight</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">38</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">39</span> +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.</p> + +<p>The Beta particles are ejected with a velocity +of from 90,000 to 160,000 miles a second.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>false</em> radium. This applies to +all substances. The acquired radioactivity persists<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">40</span> +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.</p> + +<p>The radioactive something which passes out +of radium was not the already known group of +Alpha, Beta and Gamma rays, but an <em>emanation</em> +akin to gas. Rutherford, its original discoverer, +was not sure that it was a gas, so he +cautiously gave it the name <em>emanation</em>. 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.</p> + +<p>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).</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">41</span></p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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 <em>more than its +own weight of ice</em> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">42</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>nucleus</em> 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.</p> + +<p>But these relatively heavy particles (of +atomic size) are actually soon checked, even<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">43</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">44</span> +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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">45</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V"><span id="toclink_45"></span>CHAPTER V<br> + +<span class="subhead">RADIUM IN THE TREATMENT OF CANCER</span></h2> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 “<i lang="fr">Laboratoire biologique du Radium</i>,” +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">46</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Radiotherapy (or, in France, <em>curietherapy</em>, +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.</p> + +<p>The Alpha rays are not often used in medical<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">47</span> +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).</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">48</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">49</span> +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.”</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">50</span> +prolongs life, relieves pain and adds much to +the comfort of the victim.</p> + +<p>It has been amply demonstrated that radium +treatment increases the permanency of the results +obtained by surgery, and often converts +inoperable into operable cases.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">51</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI"><span id="toclink_51"></span>CHAPTER VI<br> + +<span class="subhead">EFFICIENCY OF RADIUM IN TREATMENT OF +VARIOUS DISEASES</span></h2> +</div> + +<p>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.).</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">52</span> +by Dr. Walter S. Franklin and Frederick +C. Cordes, of San Francisco.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">53</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">54</span> +been the most successful use of this form of +treatment.</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">55</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII"><span id="toclink_55"></span>CHAPTER VII<br> + +<span class="subhead">WHERE WE GET RADIUM</span></h2> +</div> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>Radium ores are generally found in connection +with granitic masses—<i>i.e.</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">56</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">57</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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),<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">58</span> +where it occurs with rich copper ores +in a pipe in limestone.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h3 id="toclink_58">NEW SOURCES OF RADIUM</h3> + +<p>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<sub>3</sub>O<sub>8</sub>) 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.</p> + +<p>The newly discovered mineral has been given<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">59</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<sub>3</sub>)4(H<sub>2</sub>O).</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">60</span> +prevent the constant bombardment of the radium +rays.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h3 id="toclink_60">THE RADIOACTIVE DISINTEGRATION SERIES</h3> + +<p>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 <em>disintegration series</em>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">61</span> +There are three series, Uranium I, +Uranium Y, and Thorium.</p> + +<p>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 +<em>half transformed</em>. 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”).</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">62</span></p> + +<h3 id="toclink_62" class="section">URANIUM I SERIES</h3> + +<table id="t62" class="series"> +<tr class="bb head"> + <td class="tdc">Element</td> + <td class="tdc">Atomic Weight</td> + <td class="tdc">T (average time-period—half transformed)</td> + <td class="tdc">Rays (given out in each decomposition)</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Uranium I</td> + <td class="tdc">238</td> + <td class="tdl">4.5 × 10<sup>9</sup> yrs.</td> + <td class="tdl">Alpha</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Uranium X1</td> + <td class="tdc">234</td> + <td class="tdl">23.8 days</td> + <td class="tdl">Beta, Gamma</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Uranium X2</td> + <td class="tdc">234</td> + <td class="tdl">1.15 min.</td> + <td class="tdl">Beta, Gamma</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Uranium II</td> + <td class="tdc">234</td> + <td class="tdl">About 2 × 10<sup>6</sup> yrs.</td> + <td class="tdl">Alpha</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Ionium</td> + <td class="tdc">230</td> + <td class="tdl">About 9 × 10<sup>4</sup> yrs.</td> + <td class="tdl">Alpha</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Radium</td> + <td class="tdc">226</td> + <td class="tdl">(+) 1700 yrs.</td> + <td class="tdl">Alpha</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Niton (Emanation)</td> + <td class="tdc">222</td> + <td class="tdl">3.85 days</td> + <td class="tdl">Alpha</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Radium A</td> + <td class="tdc">218</td> + <td class="tdl">3.05 min. (?)</td> + <td class="tdl">Alpha</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Radium B</td> + <td class="tdc">214</td> + <td class="tdl">26.8 min. (?)</td> + <td class="tdl">Beta, Gamma</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Radium C</td> + <td class="tdc">214</td> + <td class="tdl">19.5 min. (?)</td> + <td class="tdl">Alpha, Beta, Gamma</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Radium C′</td> + <td class="tdc">214</td> + <td class="tdl">10<sup>-6</sup> sec. (?)</td> + <td class="tdl">Alpha</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Radium D</td> + <td class="tdc">210</td> + <td class="tdl">(+) 16 yrs.</td> + <td class="tdl">Beta, Gamma</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Radium E</td> + <td class="tdc">210</td> + <td class="tdl">(+) 4.85 days</td> + <td class="tdl">Beta, Gamma</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Radium F (Polonium)</td> + <td class="tdc">210</td> + <td class="tdl">(+) 136.5 days</td> + <td class="tdl">Alpha</td> +</tr> +<tr class="bb"> + <td class="tdl">Radium G (End-product uranium-lead)</td> + <td class="tdc top">206</td> + <td class="tdl">...............</td> + <td class="tdl">...............</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">63</span></p> + +<h3 id="toclink_63" class="section">URANIUM Y (ACTINIUM) SERIES</h3> + +<table id="t63" class="series"> +<tr class="bb head"> + <td class="tdc">Element</td> + <td class="tdc">Atomic Weight</td> + <td class="tdc">T (average time-period—half transformed)</td> + <td class="tdc">Rays (given out in each decomposition)</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Uranium Y</td> + <td class="tdc">234</td> + <td class="tdl">(+) 24.6 hrs.</td> + <td class="tdl">Beta</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="in1">(branching from Uranium II)</span></td> + <td class="tdc"></td> + <td class="tdl">(2.2 days?)</td> + <td class="tdl"></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Protoactinium</td> + <td class="tdc">230</td> + <td class="tdl">About 10<sup>4</sup> yrs. (?)</td> + <td class="tdl">Alpha</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Actinium</td> + <td class="tdc">226</td> + <td class="tdl">20 yrs.</td> + <td class="tdl">Beta</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Radio-actinium</td> + <td class="tdc">226</td> + <td class="tdl">19 days</td> + <td class="tdl">Alpha</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Actinium X</td> + <td class="tdc">222</td> + <td class="tdl">(+) 11.2 days</td> + <td class="tdl">Alpha</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Actinium (Emanation)</td> + <td class="tdc">218</td> + <td class="tdl">3.92 sec.</td> + <td class="tdl">Alpha</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Actinium A</td> + <td class="tdc">214</td> + <td class="tdl">.002 sec.</td> + <td class="tdl">Alpha</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Actinium B</td> + <td class="tdc">210</td> + <td class="tdl">36 min. (?)</td> + <td class="tdl">Beta, Gamma</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Actinium C</td> + <td class="tdc">210</td> + <td class="tdl">2.16 min. (?)</td> + <td class="tdl">Alpha</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Actinium D</td> + <td class="tdc">206</td> + <td class="tdl">4.76 min.</td> + <td class="tdl">Beta, Gamma</td> +</tr> +<tr class="bb"> + <td class="tdl">Actinium E (End-product actinium-lead)</td> + <td class="tdc top">206</td> + <td class="tdl">...............</td> + <td class="tdl">...............</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">64</span></p> + +<h3 id="toclink_64" class="section">THORIUM SERIES</h3> + +<table id="t64" class="series"> +<tr class="bb head"> + <td class="tdc">Element</td> + <td class="tdc">Atomic Weight</td> + <td class="tdc">T (average time-period—half transformed)</td> + <td class="tdc">Rays (given out in each decomposition)</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Thorium</td> + <td class="tdc">232.1</td> + <td class="tdl">2.2 × 10<sup>10</sup> yrs.</td> + <td class="tdl">Alpha</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Mesothorium I</td> + <td class="tdc">228</td> + <td class="tdl">6.7 yrs.</td> + <td class="tdl">Beta, Gamma</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Mesothorium II</td> + <td class="tdc">228</td> + <td class="tdl">6.2 hrs. (?)</td> + <td class="tdl">Beta, Gamma</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Radio-thorium</td> + <td class="tdc">228</td> + <td class="tdl">1.90 yrs. (?)</td> + <td class="tdl">Alpha</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Thorium X</td> + <td class="tdc">224</td> + <td class="tdl">3.64 days</td> + <td class="tdl">Alpha</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Thorium (Emanation)</td> + <td class="tdc">220</td> + <td class="tdl">54 sec. (?)</td> + <td class="tdl">Alpha</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Thorium A</td> + <td class="tdc">216</td> + <td class="tdl">.14 sec. (?)</td> + <td class="tdl">Alpha</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Thorium B</td> + <td class="tdc">216</td> + <td class="tdl">10.6 hrs. (?)</td> + <td class="tdl">Beta, Gamma</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Thorium C</td> + <td class="tdc">212</td> + <td class="tdl">60 min. (?)</td> + <td class="tdl">Alpha</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdl">Thorium D</td> + <td class="tdc">208</td> + <td class="tdl">3.2 min. (?)</td> + <td class="tdl">Beta, Gamma</td> +</tr> +<tr class="bb"> + <td class="tdl">Thorium E (End-product thorium-lead)</td> + <td class="tdc top">208</td> + <td class="tdl">...............</td> + <td class="tdl">...............</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<div class="chapter transnote"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_Notes">Transcriber’s Notes</h2> + +<p>Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made +consistent when a predominant preference was found +in the original book; otherwise they were not changed.</p> + +<p>Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced +quotation marks were remedied when the change was +obvious, and otherwise left unbalanced.</p> + +<p>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. +</p> +<div> </div> +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75392 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/75392-h/images/cover.jpg b/75392-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9cd4b27 --- /dev/null +++ b/75392-h/images/cover.jpg |
