1912] on Vital EffecU of Radium and other Rays. 303 



sensibility of certain snake poisons to its action. Cobra poison, which 

 is distingnisbed by its resistance to destruction by heat, is readily 

 destroyed by the radium radiation, and the observer found later that 

 the virus of the viper can be destroyed in the same manner by the 

 emanation. Not only so, but the radium which destroys the poison 

 can also destroy with equal rapidity its antidote, quickly reducin<^ 

 the active properties of the anti-venomous serum of Calmette. 



Fish, and Mammals. — In aquatic life the effects of radium have 

 also been investigated. Professor Coleridge Farr, of Christchurch, 

 New Zealand,* testing the artesian wells of that country, has found a 

 destructive effect upon young fish and developing spawn in water 

 containing radium emanation. Coming to the mammals, we find 

 that radium exercises a rapid destruction upon the epidermis and the 

 derma of young animals. In the early period of radium experiment 

 it was discovered that, as in the case of the a;-rays, young animals 

 were killed far more readily than adults. Danysz f demonstrated tliis 

 greater sensibility of the tissues, especially the epithelial tissues, of 

 the young. According to this same observer also, under identical 

 conditions of exposure to the action of radium rays, the skin of 

 guinea-pigs is much more sensitive than that of rabbits, and a treat- 

 ment sufficient to produce in the case of the guinea-pig a very exten- 

 sive sore will only accelerate the growth of a rabbit's hair. Mice have 

 frequently lieen made the subject of radium experiments. They have 

 been found to be paralysed and to die after twenty days of uninter- 

 rupted exposure to radium placed at three inches distance from the 

 mica window of their cage. 



In all such cases it is worthy of remark that paralysis and death 

 have been found to be due to internal haemorrhages. The nerve 

 cells have not shown any appreciable alteration. The central nervous 

 system in all cases is, indeed, very resistant to radium action, but it 

 suffers indirectly from the effects upon the vascular tissues, 



Own Gases. - A wide field was opened up to radium, once its 

 vital effect on living cells was demonstrated. The date of my own 

 first application of radium to the treatment of disease was May 1903. 

 The case was a large rodent ulcer, just below the right eye, which 

 was rapidly progressing in spite of a:-ray treatment. Two glass 

 tubes, each containing five milligrams of radium bromide, were 

 applied tentatively for a short time to the upper border of this ulcer, 

 and the application was cautiously repeated in the course of two or 

 three days. The improvement was so manifest that the tubes were 

 applied in the same manner over the general surface of the ulcer, 

 which finally healed perfectly without scarring, and has remained well 

 during the nine years that have since elapsed. 



The success encouraged me to try this method in the treatment of 



* British Medical Journal, Oct. 14th, 1911. 



t Academy of Sciences, Paris, December 28th, 1903. 



