Letters Received, April 29, 1924

HARVARD UNIVERSITY School of Public Health Department of Physiology 55 Van Dyke Street Boston, Massachusetts Mr. H. B. Viedt, April 29, 1924. United States Radium Corporation, 422 Alden Street, Orange, N.J. My dear Mr. Viedt: I have been able to obtain an impartial opinion on Dr. Barry's abilities and training and find them excellent. We may, therefore, give his opinions as to the cases a good deal of credence. From material which we have been able to dig out of the literature here and piece together with your experiences in Newark it would seem that radium is the probable cause of the trouble. We have not been able to find any direct cases of bone necrosis from exposure to radium, but we have, curiously enough, discovered several instances of bone necrosis due to X-ray. You will remember that Dr. Barry thought he showed us changes in the bone of the jaws of Miss Smith and of Miss Schaub, individuals who had not had teeth pulled. I am fortunate in being able to get here most excellent opinions upon the X-rays of these cases which Dr. Barry has sent me. It seems to us that if radium affects the bones of the jaw in individuals whose teeth have not been pulled it should affect other bones in the body -- at least to some degree -- and the most likely area in the case of all your workers is the hands. I have communicated with Dr. H. L. Alexander, 1019 Broad Street, Newark, who is an extraordinarily able and reliable person with whom I have been associated during the past year in work for the New Jersey Zinc Company, and have asked him to make X-rays of the hands of the individuals you bring to him. I enclose a copy of my note. I recognize, of course, the need to move cautiously in the matter,