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-2- 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, but it would be a great help to us if you could have X-ray photographs made of the hands of your chemist and his assistant, of your forelady, Miss Smith, and of any of the other girls at the work whom you can trust and whom you can induce to make the trip. If we can have three or four others it will be a boon to our needs. Also, I should like it very much if you would induce Dr. Lehman to go. If you telephone to Dr. Alexander he will be ready to make appointments at your convenience. There se em to be two possibilities in regard to the radium: first, that the rays are causing the damage; and, secondly, that radium itself, absorbed in minute quantities through the skin over long periods of time, is deposited in the bones. Since it apparently behaves like calcium this point of deposition seems highly probable to us. Once deposited in the bones, my associates who have been working with radium feel that it might exist for a good while and continue to slowly exert harm. You will recollect that I felt that in the case of the jaw necrosis cases what had occurred was that something had interfered with the nutrition of the jaw bones, cutting off the blood supply and leaving a devitalized tissue. Dr. Barry's X-rays show areas of rarefication which would occur if bone died and was slowly absorbed. When, in the case of the jaw, such devitalized bone is exposed to the action of the mouth bacteria

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    "ocrText": "-2-\nassociated during the past year in work for the New Jersey Zinc\nCompany, and have asked him to make X-rays of the hands of the\nindividuals you bring to him. I enclose a copy of my note. I\nrecognize, of course, the need to move cautiously in the matter,\nbut it would be a great help to us if you could have X-ray\nphotographs made of the hands of your chemist and his assistant,\nof your forelady, Miss Smith, and of any of the other girls at\nthe work whom you can trust and whom you can induce to make the\ntrip. If we can have three or four others it will be a boon\nto our needs. Also, I should like it very much if you would\ninduce Dr. Lehman to go. If you telephone to Dr. Alexander he\nwill be ready to make appointments at your convenience.\nThere se em to be two possibilities in regard to the\nradium: first, that the rays are causing the damage; and,\nsecondly, that radium itself, absorbed in minute quantities\nthrough the skin over long periods of time, is deposited in\nthe bones. Since it apparently behaves like calcium this point\nof deposition seems highly probable to us. Once deposited in\nthe bones, my associates who have been working with radium feel\nthat it might exist for a good while and continue to slowly\nexert harm. You will recollect that I felt that in the case of\nthe jaw necrosis cases what had occurred was that something had\ninterfered with the nutrition of the jaw bones, cutting off the\nblood supply and leaving a devitalized tissue. Dr. Barry's\nX-rays show areas of rarefication which would occur if bone died\nand was slowly absorbed. When, in the case of the jaw, such\ndevitalized bone is exposed to the action of the mouth bacteria"
}