Letters Received to Mr. Roeder [A. Roeder], March 31, 1925

DR. w. GILMAN THOMPSON 17 WEST 53rd STREET, NEW YORK TELEPHONE CIRCLE 6490 HOURS: 9-11 AND BY APPOINTMENT March 31, 1925 Dear Mr. Roeder: I am getting some interesting information regarding the problem you presented to me. I have consulted with three of our most prominent dental surgeons and a number of pathologists and others. All are agreed in the importance of conducting some animal experiments with radium paste applied to the gums. If you will do this, Professor Flinn, I find, would undertake the work. He is connected with the Columbia University Industrial Hygiene Department and is a very able man. I wish you would furnish me with the following facts: 1. How long was Miss x, ( I do not know her name) who is suing you, employed? 2. When did her symptoms begin? 3. How long were the one hundred and fifty girls employed who developed no symptoms? 4. How nearly were the five cases of alleged poisoning connected in point of time? 5. Was there any change whatever in the preparation used or the mode of making it during the period the five girls were at work? 6. With regard to Miss X, it would be desirable to find whether she had poor teeth before commencing work, whether she had received dental treatment before commencing work, and what mouth wash she used, if any, particularly as to hydrogen peroxide. The latter in contact with pus in a tooth abscess forms frothy bubbles which sometimes penetrate the neighboring blood vessels and plug them up or stretch them and force the pus germs into the surround- ing tissues. I find that several authors make statements regarding the ill effects of radium on bone tissues. Thus Heinecke says that, "Certain bone marrow cells are highly sensitive to radium", and that "their nuclei disintegrates, and Anton Thies found after ex- perimental application of radium that the bone marrow became packed with red blood cells and that small hemorrhages in it were common. Please also let me kmow how much radium was used and in what form, and what additional precautions have been taken for the girls now working. On the other hand, there is plenty of evidence that osteomye- litis may result at any time in those who have serious septic condi- tions in the mouth from any cause. I have not yet receivedthe histories which you agreed to send me. I shall be able to give you a more formal report in a few days. Very truly yours, WGT:BBC to. Gilman Thom prom