Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "75724640",
    "label": "Letters Sent to Dr. Herman Schlundt, December 11, 1929",
    "core": "doc",
    "dtoType": "document",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75724640"
}

{
    "id": "75724640",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75724640",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Letters Sent to Dr. Herman Schlundt, December 11, 1929",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75724640",
    "collections": [
        "Safety Light Collection",
        "Records Related to Radium Dial Painters"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0001892_Page_1.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0001892_Page_1.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0001892_Page_1.jpg",
    "imageCount": 3,
    "hasImages": true,
    "source": "import",
    "hasTranscription": false
}

{
    "url": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75724640",
    "naId": 75724640,
    "levelOfDescription": "fileUnit",
    "recordType": "description",
    "ocrSource": "nara-archive"
}

{
    "seq": 3,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "document",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0001892.pdf",
    "mediaId": "c929483c62586c4d",
    "ocrText": "Dec 11 L929.\nDr. Hermann Schlundt,\nUniversity of Missouri,\nColumbia, Missouri.\nDear Doctor Schluadt:\nI received your letter of Dec. 9th and I may say that I am perfectly willing\nfor you and Mr. Barker to publish the report on the elimination on your sub-\njests A. and B. I do not think it would be wise to give the deta on my pa-\ntients for neither you nor Mr. Barker know the condition under which they were\ntaken. In fact I considered when I sent my specimen to Mr. Barker it was just\nlike sending them to an outside chemist for analysis and all 1t was required\nwas to report the findings. 24 e United States Radium Company offered to do it\nfor me and I would consider it unethical for any one to use the results. As I\nwrote you last night I feel that we do not have the data yet to write a paper\non elimination unless we simply want to say that radium is eliminated in the\nstools. There are some other data in your paper which is incorrect and should\nbe corrected but which I did not point out in my letter of yesterdey.\nMr. Barker same to my office some time age very much worked up about\ne. letter which I had written to the Journal of the American Medical Association\ngiving a warning against the public using radium preparations without the advice\nof a. doctor and also suggesting that when it is administered by a. doctor that\nit be centrolled by the use of an electroscope to be sure that the person being\ntreated was not susceptible to radium and might not store radium in the bone\ninstead of eliminating 1t as W0.8 generally done. I mentioned the fact that I\nhad come across 9. man who was radio-active after he had stopped taking the ma-\nterial for some months. Mr Barker accused me of not treating you correctly. I\ncan't quite see that as I did not mention any names or given any figures and\nit might be almost any one. In fact I did have 6. far more startling case in my\nfiles which I did not want to mention. In writing the letter I was not inter-\nferring with the radium people 9.8 it was my understanding that they were only\nselling to the medical profession but putting out a warning while discussing an\neditorial such as has been done by other persons not only about radium but other\nthings. I am sorry if I offended them but I have data that they don't know\nabout on the case over signature that cannot be questioned and will be used if\noccasion requires it. I have been very much provoked over at letter that has\nbeen sent out about the Curtis case and Columbia University and it is only be-\ncause of my friendly feelings that has prevented my making them an issue.\nFrom sometime I have felt that the radium people were not very\nfriendly with me and have felt that results which we got at the Newark Hospi-\ntal were to blame. Then perhaps the fact that I have examined some of the girls\nin Newark who have now brought suit may have a bearing. I examined after con-\nsulting with Mr. Lee and Mr. Barker one day. I distinctly remember Mr Barker\nsaying that they would rather like it. I have always told them about my results\nand when I made an examination it was with the understanding that none of my\nfindings were to be used in any law suit. I examined some of the children and\ngot positive results but I never would publish the findings unless I could give\nthem another test for the reason I do not trust the man who sent them to me.\nI have been asked by doctors who are interested in bone changes to get an x-ray\nof the children but up to now have refused because of the publicity which has\nbeen given the situation. These doctors are in no way interested in the cases\nbut connected with the college. I hope sometime to have this done but not for\nany suits.\nI have had so much trouble from the feeling that I had been retained\nas a permanent expert for the rądium company and am willing to protect them at\nall costs that I am walking in the middle of the road very carefully and do not\ngo into any legal phrases at all. As much as I would like to listen to the tes-\ntimony at the trials in January if they are not settled then I do not expect to\nput my foot in Jersey for fear I may get a summons. But I do reserve the privi-\nledge of taking any action to protect my reputation in any publication that may\ncome up.\nI am glad that you have the same feeling of friendliness and frank-\nness which has prevailed during our past relation. I still have exactly the\nsame feeling. And I might add that I have not changed my attitude toward the\nUnited States Radium Corporation in any way and have tried to avoid doing any-\nthing that would injure them. I feel very sorry for them and wish that things\nmight be so compromised that they would know exactly how they stand and could\nmake their plans for the future. It is my private opinion that they are in for\na good licking in the present suits and yet I do not blame them for fighting\nthe cases. of course I do not know how they are going to fight the case and\ndon't went to know. But they will have one case after another filed against\nthem and it seems to me that all they can expect is to have some form of settle-\nment that cover all future cases. I have been quoted in the papers recently\nbut I have never given an interview. I even got in touch with one of the papers\nthrough mutual friends of the manager and asked them to refrain in the future\nAt that time I was told what the general feeling was about me and I took pains\nto correct them and was promised that from then on they would bear that fact in\nmind.\nTrusting that you will drop in on me whenever you are in the city,\nI am\nYours sincerely\nFrederick B. Flinn"
}