The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 1909. RADIUM IN SURGERY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2463, 30 March 1909, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 1909. RADIUM IN SURGERY.

The present tour of the scientific lecturer, Mr Clement Wragge, through New Zealand, should cause renewed interest to be taken in the mysterious radium' upon which he is speaking. Mr Wragge has been telling the. people of Auckland that if those engaged in prospecting could only discover pitch blende (from which radium is obtained) the gift of a Dreadnought to a nation, would be nothing compared to it. This can be more readily understood when we are reminded that the commercial value of radium is fixed at £3,000,000 to the lb avoirdupois. One of the principal uses to which the new element is likely to be put is for the healing of the sick, although so little is as yet known of its possibilities that medical men have to exercise the utmost caution in dealing with it. Recently Sir Frederick Treves gave a lecture in London on “Radium in Siygery” and this was followed by the announcement that a Radium Institute is to be established in London. The discovery of radium by Madame Curie is now a' matter of history, but the effect of that discovery upon scientific thought, far-reaching though it has been already, is still without definite limit. It has completely altered the conception of elemental stability, and given almost a new life to the. mediaeval idea of the philosopher's stone. In radium is demonstrated an elemental substance, palpable and ponderable, which is continually inducing change in its environment and undergoing change itself, yet continually being reproduced. “One must ' recollect,” says Soddy, “that the radium extracted as such now will 30,000 years , hence have almost ceased to exist, but there will have been simultaneously a reformation Qjj no l e£S amount in the mineral from which it was extracted.” Its mysterious chemical influence appears almost unfathomable. It can decompose water into oxygen and hydrogen; it- turns glass in its vicinity to a violet color, turns salt blue, and converts yellow; phosphorus into red. It apparently has,the power of destroying bacteria, and can destroy the vitality of seeds. Very early in its investigation radium was found capable of burning the skin by an observer who incautiously carried a small quantity in a wooden box in his waistcoat pocket. This fact, coupled with the knowledge that radium gave off rays indistinguishable from X-rays, soon led to its employment in medicine in those affections which the X-rays had already been shown to influence.

An American professor of chemistry, in a recent work, remarks: —“If we cannot answer ‘Why is a hen?’ we nevertheless all eat eggs, and although we cannot explain the origin of the rare elements we still may use them.” Radium has been used very extensively during the past five or six years in the treatment of certain diseases, and, without in the least understanding how it acts, medical men are convinced that it does possess an influence upon tissue growth which has been successfully employed for the removal of certain conditions hitherto regarded as beyond the reach of ordinary remedies, or as giving unsatisfactory-results in customary surgical procedures. Many - of these were noticed by Sir Frederick Treves. In the main they consist of superficial abnormalities Or degenerations in the skin. The distressing disfigurement known as “port-wine stain,” which consists in a more or less widespread red discoloration of the skin, usually on the face, has been actually cured in a number of instances by exposure to radium. Many cases of superficial skin cancer have also been completely cured by similar means. Another curious fact is that, athough' the curative properties of radium are supposed to depend upon the rays which resemble those discovered by Rontgen, many cures have been effected by .radium after the X-rays have failed. It may bo that The action of radium is nothing more than that of a slow caustic; it may also be that it represents some hitherto unknown healing agency by a selective stimulation of the living cell. Its possibilities in the treatment of cancer are still undefined, but there is no .question that they deserve an extended study. The establishment of a Radium Institute is a development to bo heartily welcomed. The cost of radium places it out of reach of the ordinary patient or the ordinary practitioner. Hitherto it has been used in very minute quantities, and evidence of its power on the larger scale is very necessary. The questions of public interest that , will he determined are whether radium is oi is not a healing force, and whether such healing as it apparently produces constitutes a permanent euro or is merely - a temporary alteration of appearance. A A- A A, A ; A t A- A A A AA A A..

The determination of these questions will prevent a useless, “booming” of radium, and define .the degreo of reliance to ho’' placed upon the statements of those who have already claimed to have wrought marvels by its aid.