1913] General 121 



immediate contact with the dement. Radium in course of time 

 burns most things with which it comes in contact. For instance, 

 the Hning of the boxes in which it is kept is often entirely eaten 

 away. The ill effects are not feit in the human body until a fort- 

 night after the contact. It eats away the abnormal tissues, such as 

 Carcinoma, sarcoma, etc., and leaves the surrounding normal tissues 

 in an ordinary condition. In its antipathy to abnormal tissues lies 

 its curative properties in these cases. But in time, or as the result 

 of excessive application, radium will have an effect also on the 

 normal tissues. A subsidiary effect on the patient is increased sus- 

 ceptibly to changes of temperature over areas that have been treated 

 with radium. Many patients who have had rodent ulcers and super- 

 ficial skin lesions, cured with radium, experience great discomfort 

 at the site of the old lesion when very cold or very warm air plays 

 on it. This susceptibility, however, gradually disappears in two or 

 three months. A marked condition of lethargy is frequently, it 

 might almost be said invariably, noted in patients receiving pro- 

 longed exposures with large quantities of heavily screened radium. 

 It generally makes its appearance about the fourth day of the treat- 

 ment, and passes off within a few days of the cessation of the ex- 

 posures. (London letter: Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc, 1913, Ixi, 



P- I549-) 



MuNiciPAL owNERSHip OF RADIUM. On favorablc reports as 

 to the therapeutic effects of mesothorium in can'^er, the communal 

 authorities of Essen have determined to purchase 200 mg. of the 

 preparation. Half of the necessary sum, $10,000, has been raised 

 by private subscription and the rest has been appropriated by the 

 communal authorities. — A bureau for the distribution of radium 

 and mesothorium has been f ounded in the Hamburg Inst, for Cancer 

 and Tuberculosis Research, which was founded a short time ago. 

 The object is to secure as large a quantity of these preparations as 

 possible in a short time and place them at the disposal of the public. 

 At present about 150 mg. of radium bromid are on band; this 

 quantity is to be doubled in about two weeks and there is a prospect 

 of securing further amounts. The preparations are to be loaned to 

 physicians. — The favorable results which have been obtained with 

 mesothorium radiations in Carcinoma by the gynecologists Bumm, 



