Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "75727254",
    "label": "Letters Sent to Dr. Herman Schlundt, July 19, 1932",
    "core": "doc",
    "dtoType": "document",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75727254"
}

{
    "id": "75727254",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75727254",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Letters Sent to Dr. Herman Schlundt, July 19, 1932",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75727254",
    "collections": [
        "Safety Light Collection",
        "Records Related to Radium Dial Painters"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0002701_Page_1.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0002701_Page_1.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0002701_Page_1.jpg",
    "imageCount": 3,
    "hasImages": true,
    "source": "import",
    "hasTranscription": false
}

{
    "url": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75727254",
    "naId": 75727254,
    "levelOfDescription": "fileUnit",
    "recordType": "description",
    "ocrSource": "nara-archive"
}

{
    "seq": 1,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0002701_Page_1.jpg",
    "mediaId": "5a7b3ff2a3e7e5be",
    "ocrText": "July 19th, 1932.\nDr. Herman Schlundt,\nUniversity of Missouri,\nColumbia, Mo.\nDear Dr. Schlundt:\nI note from your letter of July lst, that you have had\na communication from àr. Vanwolkenten relative to conducting some experiments\nto determine the effects of radium emanation when ingested thru drinking water.\nThe paper you refer to by Monnery of Paris, I cited to you in\na letter some time ago - thru the courtesy of Ir. Van Wolkenten I have a copy\nof this article which I am sending to you under separate cover. I will, however,\nappreciate your returning this article to me after you have had an opportunity\nto peruse it.\nIn view of the fact that radium when lodged in the system over\nlong periods of time produces physiological changes, about which we have decided\nthere is no question, I eannot help but feel that radon teken into the system\nthru drinking water cannot be classed ,as the medical association sees fit to do,\nas\nhaving no therapeutic value. An agent, such as this, when lodged in the\nsystem, that has proven itself to be so disasterous must of necessity have some\neffect either deleterious or beneficial, if in the system only for a transitory\nperiod. In cases where beneficial results have been ascribed to the drinking\nof water charged with radon, I feel that it is quite likely that pert of such\nbenefits may be psychological, but on the other hand I an also equally convine-\ned that in the event the waters so drunk contained any appreciable amount of\nradon, there must have been some physiclogical effect taken fence in\nthe\nsystem.\nRadon must be considered as no different than any other drug,\na good many of which when administered in the proper dosage are distinctly\nbeneficial for specific conditions, while if administered in small or too large\ndosases will either prove of no benefit or deleterious. Unquestionably there\nhas been a gread amount of bunk connected with the sale and distribution of\nwaters charged with radon, and B. good many of the devices sold have not con-\ntained sufficient radon to produce any physiological change either beneficial\nor deletericus.\nIn the case of Mr. Ven Wolkenten's machine he is utilizing a\nsufficient amount of radium to assure charging the water with a fairly goodly\namount of radon. I believe that he claims that 4 glass of water drom from\nthe machine daily will contain an average of 7000 to 8000 Mache Units. I have\nexamined hia machine and find that his clains are conservative, The one\nquestion in my mind relative to Mr. Van Tedkenten's machine is as to whether"
}