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{
    "localId": "75723115",
    "label": "Letters Sent to Dr. Herman Schlundt, September 10, 1928",
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    "id": "75723115",
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    "title": "Letters Sent to Dr. Herman Schlundt, September 10, 1928",
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        "Safety Light Collection",
        "Records Related to Radium Dial Painters"
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    "seq": 4,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "document",
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    "ocrText": "September 20,1928.\nDr. Herman Schlundt,\nUniversity of Missouri,\nColumbia, Mo.\nDear Dr. Schlundt:\nThe letter written while you were in Michigan, as\nwell as the one after you had returned to the University have both\nbeen received, and I must apologize for not having acknowledged them before.\nHowever, it was necessary for me to make a hurried trip south, and I jumb\nreturned the first part of this week.\nI found it rather warm down there and the trip exceeding-\nly dirty.\nAm glad to note that you thoroughly enjoyed your trip\nin Northern Michigan, and don't doubt but that you felt very much rested\nafter your rather strenuous two weeks in our city.\nI received a letter from Dr. Flinn this morning in\nwhich he states he has had a communication from you with reference to\nfurther data regarding the radio-active content of excreta. Dr. Flinn\nseems to be of the opinion that this data is essentially qualitative, and\nit would be difficult to interpret it on a quantitative basis, even though\nmore exact weights of excretia had been kept on both the Dunn and Dumschott\ncases. At first I rather felt that the more detailed quantitàtive data was\nessential, but upon giving the matter some thought I am rather inclined to\nagree with Dr. Flinn's attitude.\nIf it were possible to hospitalize a patient for a con-\nsiderable period (30 days), and follow the amount eliminated in excretia\ncarefully over that period, such data might be of value, but where a few\nintermitent specimens are examined, I hardly believe that it constitutes\nsufficient information to warrant drawing any conclusions from. This line\nof reason applies to my particular case, as you can realize it would be\nquite impractical to collect all excretia over a prolonged period of time\nunder the present conditions. The only time that such a procedure would\nbe feasible would be as previously suggested, that of dealing with a\nhospitalized patient. A few intermittent samples would not contain any\npertinent information except to verify the presence of radio-active materials\nin the particular patient in question.\nI hope you will agree with Dr. Flinn's and my attitude\nin this matter. It seems almost out of the question to try and speculate\nas to the rate of elimination by determination of the materials in the\nexcretia. The better method by far would be to keep a careful gamma ray\ncheck of the patient as time progresses, and thereby determine whether\nthere is a decrease in the amount contained.\n-2-\nI do - feel that qualitative tests of excretia are important from the\nstandpoint of verification of the presence of radio-active materials, but\nnot important from the standpoint of qualitatively determining the rate of\nelimination. I have not had an opportunity to discuss this subject personally\nwith Dr. Flinn since your visit to N.Y., but hope to have occasion to do so\nwithin the next day or two.\nI am giving you below more complete data regarding the determinations\nmade on the excretia of the Dunn case:\n1. 24 hour sample of stools from March 13th, total dry weight\n4.98 grams. Radium content 0.005 micrograms per gram.\n2. Sample of stools March 12th - no weight recorded. Radium\ncontent 0.0028 micrograms per gram.\n3. Sample of urine March 12th - 330 cc, radium content 0.0022\nmicrograms per gram. While there is a record of the volume\nin this instance there is no record of the weight of the\ninsoluble residue, but my opinion is that it was around\n2 grams.\n4. Sample of stool March 10th (morning sample), total weight 1.17\ngrams, radium content 0.0035 micrograms per gram.\n5. Sample of stool March 10th (afternoon sample) 0.77 grams\nradium content 0.0035 micrograms per gram.\nThere is of course data available relative to the average dry weight\nof stools and urine from individuals, and this information in a general way\nmight be used as a basis of determining the total amount of material eliminated.\nThe Federal Department of Labor, as well as the U. S. Department\nof Public Health, have become interested in this entire situation and are\ngoing to make an investigation. In fact a respresentative of the Dept. of\nLabor has been in New York for the past week, and it is my understanding that\na representative of the Dept. of Health will soon be here. After these\nDepartments have made their preliminary surveys, independently, I understand\nthat there is to be a general conference called at which time it is possible\nthat representatives from the industries will be invited to participate.\nAt any rate I am sure that Dr. Flinn will be among those at the conference,\nand it seems to me as though it would be quite advantageous for Dr. Flinn to\nhave in his hands at the time of this conference a rough draft of the\nexperimental work conducted during your stay here. Then toothe medical\nCommittee, to study the conditions of the five girls whose cases were recently\nsettled, are taking steps to proceed with their examinations, and Dr. Flinn,as\nwell as believesthat it is highly essential that this Committee have in\ntheir possession a rough draft of this work. With these two points in mind\nit seems essential that a rough draft be prepared as soon as convenient, which\nof course would be delayed in the event that any further data was to be\nobtained upon excretia.\nYou will be interested to know that I submitted a report prepared\n-3-\nupon the autopsied specimens of Dr. Leman to the American Journal of\nRoentgenology and Therapy, and that it has been accepted for publication.\nWith very kind regards, I am\nSincerely yours,\nHHBarker:RH\nsay\nNote: I have no data regarding the alpha, determinations which Dr. Flinn\nmade upon the excretia of both the Dunn and Dumschott cases, but\nmy understanding is that there is no data available except\nelectroscopic tests that in themselves are indications that they\ncontained radio-active materials."
}