566 



SCIENCE 



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



1. " The probable maximum production of 

 mesotborium will not exceed tbe equivalent of 

 6 grams of radium per annum." I am per- 

 fectly willing to admit tbis, but 6 gram equiv- 

 alents of mesotborium will go a long way 

 toward relieving the present use of radium 

 for luminous paint. Tbis would exceed tbe 

 average radium, production of tbe Standard 

 Chemical Company for the six years previous 

 to 1918. 



2. " The economical use of mesotborium in 

 luminous compounds is only possible a year or 

 two after refining." On tbe bottom of page 

 1,181 of my article on radium, referred to 

 above, I stated : " After ripening for about a 

 year after being prepared, it can be used for 

 luminous paint just as efficiently as radium." 



3. " For medical purposes, the short life and 

 varying gamma ray activity of mesotborium 

 make tbis product less desirable than radium." 

 On page 1,182 of my article I state: "Meso- 

 tborium can also be used for cancer treatment, 

 although its short life makes it much less de- 

 sirable for this purpose than radium." 



4. Dr. Viol prints a table to show tbe change 

 of gamma ray activity of mesothorium with 

 time. Prom this table, at the end of the sec- 

 ond year, 18 per cent, of the activity has ac- 

 cumulated; and at tbe end of tbe ninth year, 

 on tbe decay side of the curve, there is still 78 

 per cent, of the activity left. This would give 

 seven years of useful life in luminous paint. 

 In my paper, on page 1,182 I state : " Its use- 

 fulness for such purpose will last for four or 

 five years, which is as long as is required for 

 cheap watches, push buttons, etc." 



In the same paper I make the following 

 statement : 



But as the physicians and surgeons of the coun- 

 try are not purchasing enough radium to maJke the 

 industry a financial success, it is natural that the 

 manufacturers should take other means of creating 

 a demand. 



The main object of my remarks to which 

 Dr. Viol has taken exception was to try and 

 stir up the medical men of this country as to 

 the future supply of radium. No one can 

 blame manufacturers for getting other uses for 

 their product if the main use is not taken ad- 



vantage of. If tbe surgeons and hospitals will 

 not purchase radium, it will naturally go to 

 luminous paint and be used for any other pur- 

 I>ose that will create a demand. I believe that 

 Dr. Viol would much rather sell for medical 

 purposes than for miscellaneous uses in which 

 the radium is lost; and the writer would most 

 certainly prefer to See such a condition come 

 about. 



During the war, a considerable amount of 

 the radium abroad in England, France and 

 Germany, which previously had been used for 

 cancer treatment, was drawn on for war pur- 

 poses. Even in this country, a number of 

 physicians sold their supply. This condition 

 makes still more important the presentation 

 of the facts as they are to the medical frater- 

 nity. 



K. B. Moore 



U. S. Bureau op Mines, 

 Golden, Colo. 



QUOTATIONS 



THE FUTURE OF MEDICINE 



Yesterday the British Medical Association 

 concluded the most successful meeting in its 

 annals. About tbe " atmosphere " of this un- 

 precedented gathering there can be no mistake. 

 It was one of serene and reasoned confidence in 

 the future. The wisest leaders, who are also 

 the most assured prophets, of <the profession 

 well know that it will not be given to them to 

 enter the promised land which they see from 

 afar. But they have stood upon the mountain 

 tops and they have gazed upon it. That is 

 enough. They will draw nearer to it; others 

 wIlo follow will cross its borders and continue 

 the advance. iN'one can set bounds to it, for it 

 is infinite as the progress of human learning. 

 This sense of its vastness, of its mystery, of its 

 endless possibilities was the keynote of tbe 

 meeting. The doctors realize that the war has 

 opened to them a new world, and that it will 

 be their high privilege to be able to apply to 

 their fellow-men for all time the great store of 

 new learning they have harvested on the battle- 

 fields of three continents. We can not pre- 

 tend to review in tbis place the great number 



