Letters Sent to Dr. H.S. Miner [Dr. Harlan S. Miner], June 11, 1925

COPY UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI Columbia Department of Chemistry June 11, 1925. Dr. H. S. Miner, Welsbach Company, Gloucester, New Jersey. My dear Dr. Miner: I have received a little more information with regard to Dr. Leman's illness, which may have a direct bearing on some of the questions in your own mind as to the relative danger to health in working with high-grade radium and mesothorium. It appears that Dr. Leman has not been doing any work with high-grade materials for over a year; that is to say, he has done no crystallizing of high-grade products and he has thus not been exposed directly to radium emanation. It is true that he made some measurements on some high-grade material but he did no crystallizing of high-grade materials. It seems, then, that his break- down if attributable at all to radiation from radium, is the result of accumulation in his system of radioactive products. In the radium series, the products following radium C are some of them long-lived and they gradually produce products giving off alpha rays. Since some time elapsed between his breakdown and the years during which he was exposed to radium emanation, there is the possibility that some of these disintegration products resulting from the emanation may have remained in his system. In the thorium series, on the other hand, the products which follow emanation are all comparatively short-lived, and, hence, if these disintegration products from the emanations have at all attributed to the illness of these men, it would seem that the radium products are the ones responsible. All of these surmises are, of course, mere guesses; one is as good as the other, but we who are now thinking closely about these things should give some consideration to all these theories. The fact that Buckley's assistant who did the greater part of the recent work still has a normal blood count may not prove, a.s you seem to think, that the exposure to the radiations was not the primary contributing factor in Buckley's case. It may be that the responsible products begin to show their effects, only after the lapse of some time after exposure. Would it not be a matter of safety to have Bob's blood taken again after a month or two has passed ? With very kind regards and good wishes, I remain Very sincerely yours, (Signed) Herman Schlundt. HS:VH