February 4, 1909] 



NA TURE 



401 



The o and & radiations have the power of devclop- 

 iiiif phosphorescence in certain bodies, notably zinc 

 sLilphide, the platiincyanides, and the diamond. All 

 jjlrongly radioactive substances emit light themselves 

 and are phosphorescent in the dark room. 



Alterations in colour occur in glass and certain 

 precious stones; for instance, the diamond and the 

 ruby, when exposed to radium. These phenomena are 

 seen also in an X-ray tube, and are believed to be due 

 to the 3 or kathode rays. 



Chemical changes produced by radium are of great 

 interest, and here, we believe, there will be found on 

 furtlier investigation a remarkable field for work. 

 Oxyg;en is changed into ozone. Water is converted 

 into peroxide of hvdrogen. The radium emanation 

 has also the power of re-combining' hydrogen and 

 o.\ygen to form water. It is believed that the a rays 

 are the agents of these changes. The S rays convert 

 yellow phosphorus into the red variety, and liberate 

 iodine from some of its compounds. 



The chloride, bromide, sulphate and carbonate of 

 radium are known, but the metal itself has not yet 

 been isolated. The element is believed to be dibasic, 

 and resembles barium in its compounds. The atomic 

 weight is about 226-7 (Thorpe). In lyoo, Dorn dis- 

 covered that radium constantly gives off an emana- 

 tion. This emanation is a gas, and it can be pumped 

 off. The emanation produces heat. One grain of 

 radium is believed to emit about 80 gram-calorics 

 in an hour (Precht). .\s radium is constantly giving 

 off emanation it is undergoing decay, and there is 

 reason to believe that this decay is exceedingly slow. 

 .\ number of investigations have been made to deter- 

 mine its " life." The " life " of the emanation is less 

 than four days. That of radium probably as long as 

 1750 years. 



The spectrum of radium emanation has been in- 

 vestigated by several workers, and Ramsay and 

 Noddy have observed its change into helium, but it is 

 not yet certain whether other bodies are not produced. 



One great problem which lies before the physicist 

 in his work with radium and kindred bodies is the 

 possible transform.'ilion of elements. It is believed 

 that the gradual change of radium is in the direction 

 of lead. The production of helium was detected by 

 spectroscopic examination, and so far the work has 

 chiefly rested on this form of observation, but there 

 appear to be chemical evidences also. Several fascinat- 

 ing theories have been put forward to explain the 

 evolution and devolution of elements, but at the 

 present time all that can be done is the accumulation 

 of facts. 



Turning now to the medical aspects of radium, and 

 naturally tHese appeal most to the general public, it 

 may be stated that its field in therapeutics has been 

 studieil for some years, and its limitations are fairlv 

 evident. Radium kept in contact with the skin, or 

 separated from Ft by clothing, has produced intract- 

 able burns, similar to those induced by excessive 

 exposure to the X-rays. Cases of naevus, port-wine 

 stains, and moles, both of the pigmented and hairy 

 varieties, have been removed by it. Warts also 

 rapidly disappear. So far the effects have been seen 

 in superficial conditions. Rodent ulcer, a superficial 

 form of skin cancer, has been cured bv radium, just 

 as it has by the X-rays, but there have been cases 

 in which, by its greater penetrative power, no doubt, 

 radium has succeeded where the X-ravs have failed. 

 The cure of rodent ulcer by radium has been proved 

 to be lasting bv a case shown recently at the Roval 

 Society of Medicine, the cure having lasted for five 

 vears. What everyone wants to know is whether in 

 r.idiimi we have the long-sought cancer cure. It is bv 

 no means likely, but it is not impossible. It is true 

 NO. 2049, VOL. 79] 



that mouse-cancer can be removed bv it, but cancer 

 induced in mice is a very different thing from human 

 cancer. Sir Frederick Treves points out that the 

 power of radium to effect its cures is immensely in- 

 creased by using a quantity. The Radium Institute, 

 it is hoped, will be in possession of such a quantity 

 that it will be able to give an answer to this all- 

 important question of cancer cure. Above all things, 

 it is important that the public should know that so 

 far clinical work has been negative in cancer proper. 



It might have been supposed from the articles which 

 liave appeared in the daily Press that very little work 

 had been done in this country with radium as a 

 curative agent, but that is not the case, considering 

 the small quantity of the salts which have been avail- 

 able. Radium is best applied on a flat surface, and 

 the difficulty has been to spread the substance evenlv 

 and coat it with a varnish that can be sterilised bv 

 heat or otherwise. The importance of this will be 

 realised when the radium has to be placed in contact, 

 or at any rate very cl(>se, to diseased surfaces. This 

 diHiculty has been overcome bv Ganne. 



All the early work with radium has been done witli 

 material obtained from pitchblende derived from 

 Jcschimsthal, in Bohemia. .According to Strutt it is 

 present in small quantities in several places, and that 

 most likely to be now worked is in Cornwall, where 

 there is pitchblende containing 48'5 millionths per 

 cent, of radium, and also a cupro-uranite, which has 

 no less than 120 millionths per cent. 



THROUGH THE HEART OF LABRADOR. 



TN 1903 Leonidas Hubbard, jun., a young .American 

 ^ journalist, conceived the idea of explorino- Central 

 Labrador and passing through the country by means 

 of the water-way from Hamilton inlet to' the shores 

 of the .Arctic Ocean at Vugara. Only one white 

 man, the gallant Pere Lacasse, has accomplished 

 this journey if we except the wonderful pilgrimage of 

 John McLean, who travelled up to the .Arctic through 

 Labrador and back to the St. Lawrence by a slightly 

 different route. We know how poor Hubbard niissed 

 his way and travelled by a somewhat circuitous route 

 to within sight of Lake Michikamats, and then, after 

 being forced to retreat before the oncoming winter, 

 perished miserably from starvation on the banks of the 

 Susan River within a short distance of food and help. 

 The hero of that journey and subsequent events was 

 (ieorge Elson, who, with a Cree Indian, a Russian 

 half-breed, and a young Eskimo, accompanied Mr. 

 Hubbard's wife in the attempt to carry out the 

 journey and the mapping of certain geographical 

 features which the unfortunate explorer had failed to 

 do. That the effort was successful is evinced in the 

 interesting volume, "A ^^'oman's Way through Un- 

 known Labrador." 



With such skilled helpers it is plain that Mrs. 

 Hubbard was a mere passenger on the trip, for she 

 had to undergo no hardships worse than the bites 

 of insects; but that she is a woman of no small 

 courage is seen in a hundred ways, for it takes nerve 

 of the 3-0'clock-in-the-morning variety, as the writer 

 can testify, to shoot boiling rapids in a light ig-feet 

 canoe, and the pluck she showed in pushing on, after 

 reaching the height of the land at Lake Michikamats, 

 where doubts as to the chance of reachinp- A'ugara 

 or even Davis inlet before the autumn freeze-up were 

 freely expressed, was of no mean order. Then, too, 

 the chance of missing the one annual steamer, with 



1 "A Woman's Way through Un^tnown T.,'\brador. An Account of the 

 Kxploration of the Nascaupee and George Rivers." Cy Mrs. L- Hubbard, 

 Jun. Pp. xvi+338. (London : John Murray, 1908.) Price los. 6d. net. 



