120 RADIOACTIVITY. 



The y rays are analogous to the most penetrating X-rays, and 

 act on a photographic plate and Eontgen screen through a sheet of 

 lead 10 cm. thick. Manj^ observations indicate that the y rays 

 originate through the /3 rays in the same Avay as the Eontgen 

 through the cathode rays. 



In radium we have not only an everlasting lamp, a fountain of 

 light shining day and night, but in this mysterious substance "we 

 have also a stove which constantly radiates warmth without having 

 been itself heated. A gram of radium produces 100 gram-calories 

 every hour. A kilogram of radium would warm a room, and if we 

 should weigh our supply of fuel at the end of the winter we should 

 find it to be still a kilogram and still giving out the same amount of 

 warmth. An admirable way of heating, one would think, but not 

 cheap after all. for a kilogi'am of radium, if it could be procured, 

 would cost 100.000.000 marks, about $25,000,000. Even if one had 

 the money, such a mode of heating could not l^e adopted on account 

 of the noxious effect of such a quantity of radium, which if left 

 uncovered in a room Avould destroy all life there within twenty-four 

 hours. In spite of every precaution, investigators who have worked 

 with radium have suffered from abscesses and the like, which prove 

 remarkably difficult to heal. If the finger is held for a few minutes 

 over 20 to 30 mg. of radium the skin is inflamed and peels off in 

 from eight to fourteen dajs. These experiences have given rise to 

 the idea that the radium rays might be used in the treatment of 

 malignant tumors — that is. lupus and carcinoma — but it is as yet 

 impossible to say whether or not these awful scourges of humanity 

 maj be successfully treated in this way. 



It is not, however, improbable that the healing power of radium 

 has contributed for centuries to the aid of mankind, as research has 

 proved that all natural springs contain radium emanations, and that 

 the quantity is greatest in the well-known healing, thermal springs. 

 This may be a mere coincidence, but the established fact that the 

 healing power is gi-eater in the waters which possess the greatest 

 amount of radioactivity, favors the theory of cause and effect, as does 

 the fact that these waters when carried to a distance lose something 

 of their curative power and their radioactivitj^ at the same time. 

 Swamp and fango earth possess a not inconsiderable quantity of 

 radium, which apparently indicates that the curative power of baths 

 of this sort is in proportion to their radioactivity. 



Since all springs possess radioactivitj'^ and traces of the same prop- 

 erty are found in subterranean streams, we must draw the astonishing 

 conclusion that this remarkable element is widely distributed through- 

 out the interior of the earth, an element of whose existence no one had 

 a suspicion a decade ago, and of which up to this time we have been 

 able to isolate onh^ the most infinitesimal quantities, hardly more 



