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UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI
COLUMBIA
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY
JAN 9 1930
January 7, 1930
Mr. H. H. Barker,
U. S. Radium Corp.,
535 Pearl Street,
New York City, N. Y.
My dear Howard:
These days I presume you are probably centering some of your attention
on the damage suits which are pending; but I hope that you have not dis-
missed from your mind entirely the situation with Dr. Flinn. Thus far I
have made no reply to Dr. Flinn's letter of December llth, in which he
states his position on the question of publishing another joint paper,
Morever, I have only recently read the paper by Flinn and Seidlin, on
Elimination of Radium, by Parathormone treatment. Since Dr. Flinn has
modified his attitude in several respects since the date of his letter,
perhaps there will be nothing gained by writing at length about the diff-
erent points which are involved, but since I have thus far refrained from
stating my views, let me take a few minutes now to tell you how I feel.
I do not expect to go into details.
It seems to me it is mutually agreed, now, that we may publish independ-
ently of Dr. Flinn the results obtained in the Elimination of Radium. of
course, we would not use the data we have on hand for Dr. Flinn's subjects
We agree, as Dr. Flinn says, "it would be unethical". Although we have
secured no data on elimination when patients are under treatment, it seems
to me that quantitative data on elimination under normal living conditions
is a distinct contribution. Your suggestion to publish jointly with Dr.
Failla the data obtained for Miss Freyer and Mrs. Hussman, is entirely
agreeable to me. The next step looking to this end would be recasting the
paper, limiting it to experiments which were conducted entirely independent
of Dr. Flinn. Shall we proceed with this plan?
With reference to Dr. Flinn's paper in The Johns Hopkins Bulletin, it
strikes me that the apparent reduction of about 50% in the activity as
the result of the Parathormone treatment, stands out as a pioneer contri-
bution of great importance. We have hore what one may term a cure for
radium poisoning. These findings have such a fundamental bearing on radium
therapy that confirmation by treatment of other subjects having radium
poisoning is imperative. If we accept these results as actual elimination
of radium, nearly 50% then would we not have to say that a Gure for radium
poisoning has been discovered?
Far be it from-me to criticise these experiments, but I should like to
hear the opinion of medical men themselves as to the probability of such
a high reduction of radium in so short a time -- six months (?) -- Con-
sidering the persistent way in which radium is retained in the bones this
high reduction would point to a rather extraordinary elimination of calcium, -
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"ocrText": "UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI\nCOLUMBIA\nDEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY\nJAN 9 1930\nJanuary 7, 1930\nMr. H. H. Barker,\nU. S. Radium Corp.,\n535 Pearl Street,\nNew York City, N. Y.\nMy dear Howard:\nThese days I presume you are probably centering some of your attention\non the damage suits which are pending; but I hope that you have not dis-\nmissed from your mind entirely the situation with Dr. Flinn. Thus far I\nhave made no reply to Dr. Flinn's letter of December llth, in which he\nstates his position on the question of publishing another joint paper,\nMorever, I have only recently read the paper by Flinn and Seidlin, on\nElimination of Radium, by Parathormone treatment. Since Dr. Flinn has\nmodified his attitude in several respects since the date of his letter,\nperhaps there will be nothing gained by writing at length about the diff-\nerent points which are involved, but since I have thus far refrained from\nstating my views, let me take a few minutes now to tell you how I feel.\nI do not expect to go into details.\nIt seems to me it is mutually agreed, now, that we may publish independ-\nently of Dr. Flinn the results obtained in the Elimination of Radium. of\ncourse, we would not use the data we have on hand for Dr. Flinn's subjects\nWe agree, as Dr. Flinn says, \"it would be unethical\". Although we have\nsecured no data on elimination when patients are under treatment, it seems\nto me that quantitative data on elimination under normal living conditions\nis a distinct contribution. Your suggestion to publish jointly with Dr.\nFailla the data obtained for Miss Freyer and Mrs. Hussman, is entirely\nagreeable to me. The next step looking to this end would be recasting the\npaper, limiting it to experiments which were conducted entirely independent\nof Dr. Flinn. Shall we proceed with this plan?\nWith reference to Dr. Flinn's paper in The Johns Hopkins Bulletin, it\nstrikes me that the apparent reduction of about 50% in the activity as\nthe result of the Parathormone treatment, stands out as a pioneer contri-\nbution of great importance. We have hore what one may term a cure for\nradium poisoning. These findings have such a fundamental bearing on radium\ntherapy that confirmation by treatment of other subjects having radium\npoisoning is imperative. If we accept these results as actual elimination\nof radium, nearly 50% then would we not have to say that a Gure for radium\npoisoning has been discovered?\nFar be it from-me to criticise these experiments, but I should like to\nhear the opinion of medical men themselves as to the probability of such\na high reduction of radium in so short a time -- six months (?) -- Con-\nsidering the persistent way in which radium is retained in the bones this\nhigh reduction would point to a rather extraordinary elimination of calcium, -"
}