Medicine: Cheaper Radium

The richest source of radium in the world is believed to have been discovered in Turkestan by a Russian Government expedition. An American syndicate, which includes Dr. C. Everett Field, President of the Radium Research Corporation, and Washington B. Vanderlip, chronic Soviet concession hunter, with four New York philanthropists as "angels," is planning to produce and distribute radium from this field at cost price. Radium manufactured from carnotite deposits in Colorado costs from $85 to $110 a milligram, or approximately $50,000,000 a pound. This has been reduced in the last two years to $70 a milligram by the exploitation of much richer ore veins in the Belgian Congo. The Turkestan samples of pitchblende (the main source of radium) run almost twice as high in radium content as the Congo ores, and will make possible its distribution in America at $35 to $40 a milligram. The total amount of radium in use in the world is only eight ounces, of which three are in America and a little more in England. In the U. S. there is only enough to treat 5% of cases which need it, and this is concentrated in large cities. A great deal of radium is being used for commercial purposes. Twelve million watch dials have been treated with a weak solution of radium and a sulphate at a cost of twelve cents apiece. In the mass this subtracts materially from the quantity available for medicinal purposes, and the new syndicate is trying to conserve the supply for medical use.