Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "75719586",
    "label": "Letters Received to Editor, June 23, 1925",
    "core": "doc",
    "dtoType": "document",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75719586"
}

{
    "id": "75719586",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75719586",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Letters Received to Editor, June 23, 1925",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75719586",
    "collections": [
        "Safety Light Collection",
        "Records Related to Radium Dial Painters"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0000408_Page_1.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0000408_Page_1.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0000408_Page_1.jpg",
    "imageCount": 3,
    "hasImages": true,
    "source": "import",
    "hasTranscription": false
}

{
    "url": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75719586",
    "naId": 75719586,
    "levelOfDescription": "fileUnit",
    "recordType": "description",
    "ocrSource": "nara-archive"
}

{
    "seq": 2,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0000408_Page_2.jpg",
    "mediaId": "4bcb8286ae96c64b",
    "ocrText": "- 2 -\nTheir remarks regarding the death of Dr. Edwin H. Leman would lead\none to infer that he died from the effects of the rays of mesothor-\nium and not from radium. They stated he was in good heal th while\nhe worked on radium alone but when he went to the plant where meso-\nthorium was used he acquired the illness that resulted in his death.\nThere might be some basis for this statement were there any differ-\nence in the gamma rays from these products, but as the gamma rays\nfrom radium are nearly as penetrating as those from mesothorium, are\nidentically alike and arise in no greater amount from an equal amount\nof these two elements, it is impossible to understand why these men\nhave made such absolutely unscientific statements.\nIt takes the\nmost delicate electroscopes to detect the difference in these rays,\nso that any claims made as to greater degree of injury from one ele-\nment than from the other have not the slightest basis of fact.\nThese men cannot produce the slightest scintilla of evidence that\nradium is injurious when taken internally, neither can they produce\na single bit of evidence that mesothorium is injurious. In fact,\nthe best experts in Europe prefer the internal administration of\nmesothorium to radium alone as they claim they effect cures more\npromptly with mesothorium. Thus if mesothorium were used in the\nluminous paint on the watoh dials the health of the workers should\nhave improved even more so than were radium in the paint.\nI am writing this letter in the interests of truth and my statements\nregarding the absolute identy between the rays of radium and meso-\nthorium can be verified by reference to any of the standard text\nbooks on radioactive substances such as Rutherford, Fajans, Soddy,\nFinzi, Simpson, etc.\nThis is not a case where experts disagree. It is a oase where ex-\nperts all have the same knowledge, but some experts seem to have\na hidden motive for discrediting mesothorium to the glory of its\nradioactive twin -- radium. If mesothorium is injurious, so is\nradium; if radium is harmless, so is mesothorium and this latter\nstatement is the true one when we speak of the internal administra-\ntion of these elements, such as has been the custom in the medical\nprofession for many years.\nVery cordially yours,\nBAILEY RADIUM LABORATORIES,\n336 Main Street,\nEast Orange, N. J.\nLL/B"
}