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By JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN.
y* ON« i:UM.\(; Mine. Marie
V Curie and her discovery
JE. of radium, her recent
n visit to the United States
f* and the presentation to
" her by American women
(IjYjm of a gram of radium in
recognition of her serv
sf\) ices to science and hu-
Jf* inanity the reading pub
-1 ** lie is sufficiently In
formed’. Everybody knows that she
wiw made much of by our dignitaries;
Mint ten degrees were conferred upon
foer by our universities; that Presi
dent Harding himself made the pres
<mtation to her in the White House
with appropriate words in the pres
of a brilliant gathering of nota
bles. and that a tired and happy wom
an finally sailed away with her precious
gram of radium stored in a mahogany
earn* lined with steel and lead. She
said she was going to take a real rest
«od that she hoped in September to
,g» back to her work in the Curie In
stitute in Paris —now that she again
has radium to work with. The insti
tute divides its work along two main
tines. One has to do with •Urn study
9f radium and radioactive substances
purely from tbe viewpoint of y>e jdiys
iciuti ■„ tbe other deals with their appli
cation to (lie treatment of human ail
ments. She will also carry on an ex
feu.sive investigation of mesa thorium,
another radioactive substance —enough
tf this was presented to her to bring
Ulur value of the combined gift to $165,-
400.
I But where ttiis American radium
came from and how it was produced
fe another story, which may profitably
lie told In this connection. It is espe
cial!) interesting, inasmuch as the to
tal world's supply of radium is esti
mated at only 140 grams (a gram is
wie twenty-eighth of an ounce). The
ainstration by comparison shows how
itiual! is this amount. The lower sec
tion represents that, made by the prin
cipal American radium refinery, tlie
oiark section that made by other Amer-
Hran refineries and the upper layer
Unit produced abroad. So, though
radium was not produced in the Uni
ted States till 1016, this country now
A*s j*ade about five times as much as
rest of the world.
» While Mine, Curie, by discovering
radium, introduced a new conception
!&}•» the fundamental problems of ex
Lrtmce. she actually produced very lit
tle mdium, since she was denied ttie
ores with which to work. Moreover,
•he sine it all away to the medical
profession of Mu rope. A very small
portion found its way to New? \ t>rk.
In 1911 the late Joseph M. Flannery
of Pittsburgh, who had made a success
with vanadium as an alloy for steel,
devoted his attention lo the produc
tion of radium. The ores of otjter
countries being out of the question.
* fir turned to the earnotite deposits
mf southwestern Colorado. Prior to
Mir World war this earnotite ore had
Iwen shipped to French and German
producers of radium.
The mining and handling of carno
#ite ore in southwestern Colorado is
attended with difficulties. The region
Is desolate and practically uninhab
ited. Water is scarce. Flannery had
troubles. He had to train new
#uen. He finally established headquar
ters at the only spring of clear water
«r!thin 100 miles: here the Standard
Chemical company maintains all the
ttffices for its mining work, transporta
tion and supplies. Eighteen miles
•tvay the company built the largest
radium concentration mill In the
world. through which has passed the
#rre from which has been refined more
tfuin half the world’s supply of radl
arw. Burros carry the ores from t tc>
tallies to the mill, and water and sup
sj! es to the miners.
Mine. Curie worked on European
wes which contained about one gram
mS radium to every five or six tons.
In the Colorado ores there is about
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one gram to every 500 tons. More
over, ttie carnotlte miner is a pocket
hunter. Sometimes the ore appears
on the surface and along rim rocks;
then extraction" is easy. More fre
quently the ore is found under a heavy
overload of other material; then reg
ular mining tunnels are run and dyna
mite Is used to break the rock for
transportation to the surface. The
pockets vary widely; some contain
only a few pounds, while exceptional
pockets have contained 1 ,S(K) tons.
First, of course, the pocket must l>e
found. Prospecting is done by drill
ing in likely spots with jack hammers
and with diamond drills. Where the
overlay is not more than 25 feet deep
the jack hammer, operated by portable
gasoline compressors and compressed
air, is the cheapest method of work
ing. Under other conditions the dia
mond drrtl is used.
Hamilton Foley writes for the Pan
American Union an interesting ac
count of the operations of the com
pany and of the production of the
radium presented to Mme. Curie; the
pictures used herewith are among the
illustrations, lie says in one place:
“Let us follow the various opera
tions from the extraction of the ore
to the final recovery of the radium.
At the concentration mill in the wilds
of Colorado 500 tons of ore are re
duced to about 125 tons. In a pow
dered form this quantity is shipped
in 100-pound sacks, by wagon and,
where possible, by motor trucks, the
65 miles to Placerville, Colo. Here a
narrow-guage railroad takes it to the
transcontinental railroad at Salidn,
Colo. From Salida it travels the 2,300
miles to Canonsburg. Pa., just outside
of Pittsburgh, where the company
maintains its concentration plant. No.
*>
“It should he noted that at the mill
jin Colorado, and in the operations
pertaining to it. some 300 men are
necessary to carry through all the de
tailed work. Also, that when the ore
is taken up by the Colorado mill,
there is only 1 part radium for every
400,000,000 parts of the ore; but when
the ore reaches the mill at Canons
burg the proportion is 1 part of radi
um to 100,000,000 parts of the ore.
“The task of the Canonsburg men
is to reduce this mass of ore to less
than a quarter of a ton, and In such
a way that whatever radium may have
been in the greater mass will be found
in the small residue. This is done with
regularity and precision, notwithstand
ing that in the elimination of the 100,-
000,000 parts of undesirable material
the Canonsburg plant has to use 10,-
( 000 tons of distilled water, 1,000 tons
of coal, and 300 tons of chemicals.
It should be noted in this connection
that whatever small quantity of va
nadium and uranium there may be
In this material is saved while this
final reduction is being made.
“The actual recovery of whatever
radium there may be In the tons of ma
terial handled at these two great con
centration plants is made elsewhere.
I When the 123 tons of material that
reached Canonsburg from the mill in
tlie West have been reduced to less
j than a quarter ton. this residue
j is sent to the radium research labor
atories of tlie company in the form
jof radium barium chloride. By sue-
HENRY COUNTY WEEKLY, McDONOUGH, GEORGIA
rn tt47MpOZttjy<? OZZF
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cesslve fractional crystallizations ot
the radium chloride and, at a later
stage, of the bromide, most of the
radium is obtained in a salt contain
ing over J)5 per cent of pure radium
bromide. Bv still further chemical
treatment the bromide is converted
into the sulphate or the chloride, and
in tlie therapeutic use of radium these
two salts find the largest use.”
Mme. Curie, several years ago by
general request, fixed an international
radium standard. This is deposited
in Paris and the leading cities of the
world have replicas of it. So now
radium preparations are measured by
comparing the electrical energy car
ried by their gamma rays with that
of the international standard. While
radium has still many mysteries, it
may be said for the benefit of the
general public that Its energy appears
to be given off in three rays, which
are known as the Alpha, Beta ami
Gamma rays. It is stated that the
Alpha and Beta rays are electrb-al
and that the Gamma ray is rather a
vibration than a ray. The Alpha ray
is believed to comprise 85 per cent
of radium’s activity; it travels with
about the speed of light and has no
penetrative power. The Beta ray is
about 10 per cent of the activity,
travels with about 1-15 the speed of
light and can penetrate about an inch
and one-fifth of lead. The Gamma
ray can penetrate more than three
inches of lead; when It strikes a hard
substance it breaks up into two rays
corresponding to the Alpha and Beta
rays.
It is the Gamma ray that is used
in bloodless surgery. The Alpha ray
does not burn. The Rota ray is kept
from the patient by a screen that ab
sorbs it. The Gamma ray seems to
have the peculiar quality of picking
out useless or harmful tissues for Its
first attack; it will harm useful tis
sues only after harmful tissues have
been burnt away or dissolved. Radi
um is handled in glass tubes incased
in lead containers. Those who handle
it constantly usually get pretty badly
burned sooner or later. Flesh burned
oy radium cannot bq healed; it simply
disappears and is gone. One of Mme.
Curie’s hands has been affected and
her general health has been under
mined by intensive wartime work with
radium. *
A gram of radium makes a small
thimbleful. Its current price is $120,-
000. A gram is divided into a thous
and parts, each of which is called a
milligram and sells for $l2O. Physi
cians who use it have from 50 to 25C
miligrams. The state of New York
has recently purchased 2Vi grams foi
use in the treatment of cancer.
With radium worth $120,000 a thim
bleful. how is it that the dials of even
cheap watches can be made luminons
! by its use? It’s this way: The lum
inous material on the dial is a com
i bination of a most minute portion of
real radium and a special zinc sul
| phide. These atoms are so small that
| it would take hundreds of millions
lof them to cover an inch. As each
atom explodes, a projectile too small
to be seen under a microscope flies off
| and strikes a crystal of the zinc ox
ide. The heat generated by the im
pact makes a flash visible to the eye.
As these explosions occur at the rate
I of about 200,000 a second on the watch
■ dial, their combined flashes make the
dial luminous.
GEORGIA HAPPENINGS
OF TIMELY INTEREST
Dublin. —Announcement has lately
reached here that an examination to
secure a new postmaster at this place
will be held soon. Several applicants
/Contemplate taking the examination
and a lively contest is expected. V.
,L. Stanley is the present postmaster,
having held the office under the past
,two administrations.
Hawkinsville. —After colliding with
the pier of the drawbridge at Haw
kinsville the steamer Jewel, which
plies the Ocmulgee river from Haw
kinsville to points down the river,
sank heavily loaded with steel for
the new bridge being built at this
point. The boat was owned and op
erated by Capt. Jack Roebuck.
Atlanta.—Oil companies operating
in Georgia will bring legal proceedings
within a few days to test the con
stitutionality of the gasoline tax of
one cent a gallon provided in a bill
passed by the legislature and signed
by Governor Hardwick, it was announ
ced by R. N. Reed, president of the
Reed Oil company.
Arlington. An enthusiastic and
well-attended meeting was held here
recently under the auspices of the
Arlington division of the Calhoun
county farm bureau, for the purpose
of working out a cropping system for
this community. County Agent A. E.
Gibson submitted a plan, including the
growing of melons and cucumbers.
Dublin.—A mistrial was declared in
the Laurens superior court here re
cently by Judge Kent in the case of
George Walker, fifteen-year-old youth
on trial charged with the murder in
connection with the death of George
Avery, seventeen, recently, at Orianna
near here. Walker, it is said, is the
youngest defendant charged with mur
der ever to face trial, in this section of
Georgia.
Juliette. —The resolution presented
to congress by the Macon Bunting-
Williams post, Veterans of Foreign
Wars, urging that the bill now pend
ing in congress providing for the pay
ment of a bonus to the soldiers in the
world war b 's so amended as to in
clude all soldiers who served their
country in any war upon foreign soil
has met with much favor by Monroe
county veterans of the Spanish-Amer
ican war.
Savannah. —Shackleford, aged 32, a
business mann of Portsmouth, Va.;
his wife and five children were ser
iously injured, none of them fetally,
recently near Riceboro, when the car
in which they were driving was struck
by Seaboard Air Line train No. 1,
Savannah for New York. Witnesses
of the accident are said to have shout
ed warnings, but the autoists failed
to slow down in time to avoid being
strock. The fast train stopped with
record promptness.
Toccoa. —An unidentified woman on
Southern train No. 13D adopted a novel
method of ridding herself of her baby
as the train left Toccoa. As the con
ductor called “all aboard,” the woman
suddenly rose from her seat and hand
-3d the baby to a woman near her, with
the request that the other woman hold
the child for a moment. She then
jumped off the train leaving the baby
in the arms of the other woman. No
trace has been found of the woman
who left the train.
Arlington.—A meeting was held
here recently under the auspices of
the Arlington division of the Calhoun
county farm bureau, for the purpose
of working out a cropping system for
this community. County Agent A. E.
Gibson submitted a plan that was
lauded by those present. It called for
the growing of melons and cucumbers.
To arouse still more interest, the
banks and the Arlington Wholesale
company have offered prizes for the
best original cropping plan for a one
horse plan.
Americus. —Fifty thousand dollers
will be expended immediately in re
locating and rebuilding that part of
the Dixie highway between the Sum
ter county line and Leesburg. A con
tract for the work has just been given
to Dover & O’Shields, of Montezuma,
by the board of county commissioners
of Lee county. Half of the money to
be spent will be federal aid funds;
$20,000 will be raised by‘a Lee county
bond issue, and $5,000, the amount al
located to Lee county, will be state
aid funds.
Atlanta. —Governor Hardwick an
nounced the appointment of Lew J.
Kilburn, of Macon, as a member of
the state industrial commission to suc
ceed W. P. Raol, resigned. He was
named to fill the unexpired term
of Mr. Raol. The position calls for a
salary of $4,000. a year. Mr. Kilburn
was sworn in by the governor recently
and has assumed his new duties. Mr.
Kilburn received the indorsement of
labor leaders in all parts of the state.
He served for many years as fore
man of the composing room of The
Macon News, and has served also as
president of the Federation of Labor.
He also has served several terms as
a member of the state legislature.
Many ills Due To Catarrh
The mucous membranes through
out the body are subject to catarrhal
congestion resulting in many senoua
complications.
PE-RU-NA
Wall Known and Rollabla
Coughs, colds, nasal catarrh, stom
ach and bowel troubles among the
most common diseases due to catarrh*
31 A° very° dependable remedy after
protracted sickness, the grip or Span
ish Flu. . ~ .
PE-RU-NA is a good medicine to
have on hand tor emergencies.
Tatlits or liqiri *»“ buj*m
IN USE FIFTY YEARS
RDfIDCV week te ?r°e n e
jla II || V Short breathing re-
VIIVI E lieved in a few hoursi
•welling reduced in a
few day*; regulates tha liver, kidneys, stomach
and heart; purifies the blood, strengthens tha
entire system. Wrrfa for From Trial Treatmant.
COLLUM DROPSY REMEDY CO., DepLE. On ATLANTA. GA.
Justifiable Aloofness.
“Wasn’t it Omar Khayyam who
asked for a book of verse and a .jug
of wine?”
“I don’t know,” replied Miss Cay
enne. “I don’t read him. In view
of tlie jazz poetry that now circulates
and the bootlegging incident to alco
holics. I am convinced that Omar Is
not at all a proper person.”
Cuticura for Sore Hands.
Soak hands on retiring in the hot suds
of Cuticura Soap, dry and rub in Cu
ticura Ointment Remove surplus
Ointment with tissue paper. This is
only one of the things Cuticura will do
if Soap, Ointment and Talcum are used
for all toilet purposes. Advertisement
Sparrows Put Up a Fight
When workmen, about to repair the
roof of the Presbyterian church in
Danville, Pa., used burning sulphur
in an attempt to exterminate sparrows
which had nested in the church’s bel
fry. they were attacked in force by
the birds and driven from the roof in
confusion. Trustees of the church
are considering offering a reward for
the extermination of the birds.
FOR SUNBURN OR SORENESS
Apply Vacher-Balm; it relieves at
once. If we have no agent where you
live, write to EL W. Vacher, Inc., New
Orleans, La. —Advertisement.
A Compliment.
We’ve just bid looking up id the dic
tiodary what it says about hay fever.
It says—atchoo!—it says hay fever is
a fuddy disease that hits odly the id
telFectnal —atchoo! —add very' idtel
ligedt classes.
Bueh obliged, Bister Webster —at-
ehoo f —Exchange.
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