564 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIX. No. 1276 



eral Vocational Education Board with head- 

 quarters in Atlanta, Ga., Dr. Roberts has ac- 

 cepted an appointment as veterinarian with 

 the Rockefeller Foundation and is to be sta- 

 tioned at Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Dr. "Wolf 

 will retain his connection with the North Caro- 

 lina Agricultural Experiment Station. 



MJR. Martin Kilpatrick, Jr., of the division 

 of inorganic chemistry, the College of the City 

 of New York, has accepted a position as assist- 

 ant professor of chemistry at Vassar College 

 under Professor W. C. Moulton. 



Ernest Carroll Paust, A.B. (Oberlin, '12), 

 Ph.D. (Illinois, '17), now instructor in zoology 

 at the University of Illinois, has accepted a 

 jMDsition with the China Medical Board, Rocke- 

 feller Poundation, as associate in parasitology, 

 department of pathology. Union Medical 

 School, Peking, China. He plans to assume 

 his duties in Peking early in October. 



Professor C. R. Marshall, professor of 

 materia medica and therapeutics, University 

 of St. Andrews, has been appointed to the 

 regius chair of materia medica in the Univer- 

 sity of Aberdeen, vacant by the resignation of 

 Professor Theodore Cash. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



RADIUM PRODUCTION 



To THE Editor of Science : In your issue of 

 March 7, Dr. Charles H. Viol makes some com- 

 ments on statements made by me in a paper 

 presented before the American Institute of 

 Mining Engineers at its September meeting, 

 1918, at Colorado Springs. The main thing 

 to which Dr. Viol takes exception is the state- 

 ment of the writer that: 



In my judgment the earnotite fields will not pro- 

 duce more than 100 additional grams of radium 

 element at the most — if that much. This would 

 about double the world's present supply; but on 

 account of the large use of radium in cancer treat- 

 ment, such an amount, although large scientifically, 

 would be small in proportion to the probable de- 

 mands. 



Dr. Viol states that the estimates of myself 

 and the Bureau of Mines are based on a " very 

 inadequate study of the earnotite region made 

 prior to the war and before the fields had been 



developed to any great extent " ; and he claims 

 that at least 500 grams of radium should be 

 produced from earnotite. 



No one can tell exactly how much radium 

 can be produced from the earnotite fields of 

 Colorado and Utah, and any estimate must be 

 very approximate. To some extent, the f)jture 

 production will depend upon the price of 

 radium, as a much higher price for radium 

 would allow lower grade ore to be mined and 

 treated. As the ore always exists in pockets 

 of varied sizes and grades, the mining is 

 very largely confined to outcrops, and this 

 makes the question of an estimation of the 

 proba:ble amount available easier than if min- 

 ing conditions were such as are met with in con- 

 nection with other metals. It is true that some 

 drilling has been done, chiefly by the Stand- 

 ard Chemical Company, and a higher price of 

 radium would, of course, allow drilling to be 

 carried on to a greater extent, which would 

 undoubtedly give some increased production. 

 The estimate of 100 grams which I made was 

 based on the present price of radium. But, 

 under no conditions, can I see the possibility 

 of producing 500 grams of radium element 

 from the earnotite fields, or anywhere near 

 that amount. 



In reference to our " inadequate study of the 

 earnotite region," I may say that the first 

 statement of the Bureau of Mines concerning 

 these deposits was made in connection with 

 U. S. Bureau of Mines Bulletin No. 70.^ On 

 page 42 the following is printed: 



The United States possesses unique deposits in 

 these earnotite ores. They constitute at present 

 the largest known supply of radium-bearing min- 

 erals in the world. ... Up to the present, very 

 little interest has been shown by Americans in 

 these deposits, which may not be duplicated in so 

 far as quantity goes in any part of the world. 



Up to this time, no one had made a state- 

 ment of this kind concerning these deposits, 

 but as soon as Mr. Kithil and myself went on 

 record, there was immediately a strong tend- 

 ency to "go us one better." In Volume 1, 

 page 12, of Radium, published by the Stand- 



i"A Preliminary Report on Uranium, Badium 

 and Vanadium, ' ' by Eiehard B. Moore and Karl L. 

 Kithil, 1913. 



