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    "localId": "75727254",
    "label": "Letters Sent to Dr. Herman Schlundt, July 19, 1932",
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    "id": "75727254",
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    "title": "Letters Sent to Dr. Herman Schlundt, July 19, 1932",
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        "Safety Light Collection",
        "Records Related to Radium Dial Painters"
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    "seq": 3,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "document",
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    "ocrText": "July 19th,1932.\nDr. Herman Schlundt,\nUniversity of Missouri,\nColumbia, Mo.\nDear Dr. Schlundt:\nI note from your letter of July 1st, that you have had\na communication from Mr. VanWolkenten relative to conducting some experiments\nto determine the effects of radium emanation when ingested thru drinking water.\nThe paper you refer to by Monnery of Paris, I cited to you in\na letter some time ago - thru the courtesy of Mr. Van Wolkenten I have a copy\nof this article which I am sending to you under separate cover. I will, however,\nappreciate your returning this article to me after you have had an opportunity\nto peruse it.\nIn view of the fact that radium when lodged in the system over\nlong periods of time produces physiological changes, about which we have decided\nthere is no question, I cannot help but feel that radon taken into the system\nthru drinking water cannot be classed, as the medical association sees fit to do,\nas having no therapeutic value. An agent, such as this, when lodged in the\nsystem, that has proven itself to be so disasterous must of necessity have some\neffect either deleterious or beneficial, if in the system only for a transitory\nperiod. In cases where beneficial results have been ascribed to the drinking\nof water charged with radon, I feel that it is quite likely that pert of such\nbenefits may be psychological, but on the other hand I am also equally convinc-\ned that in the event the waters so drunk contained any appreciable amount of\nradon, there must have been some physiological effect taken place in the\nsystem.\nRadon must be considered as no different than any other drug,\na good many of which when administered in the proper dosage are distinctly\nbeneficial for specific conditions, while if administered in small or too large\ndosases will either prove of no benefit or deleterious. Unquestionably there\nhas been a great amount of bunk connected with the sale and distribution of\nwaters charged with radon, and a good many of the devices sold have not con-\ntained sufficient radon to produce any physiological change either beneficial\nor deleterious.\nIn the case of Mr. Van Wolkenten's machine he is utilizing a\nsufficient amount of radium to assure charging the water with a fairly goodly\namount of radon. I believe that he claims that 4 glass of water drawn from\nthe machine daily will contain an average of 7000 to 8000 Mache Units. I have\nexamined his machine and find that his claims are conservative, The one\nquestion in my mind relative to Mr. Van Wolkenten's machine is as to whether\nor not he may not be using too large an amount of radium.\nFor your informa-\ntion confidentially, I am glad to tell you that Dr. Flinn examined a number of\npeople (12 or 15) whom had been drinking the water from Mr. Van Wolkenten's\nmachine for varying periods of time, such examination occurring after they had\nceased drinking thë water for a sufficient period to allow any radon in the\nsystem to escape. I understand that Dr. Flinn did not find a single one of\nthe people 80 examined radioactive, which, of course, is what we would expect.\nI unquestionably think that there is an opportunity for some one with the\nproper facilities to definitely clear up this situation, and establish the\nphysiological effects that arë produced by the use of water charged with the\nproper amount of radon. Such work should be conducted in a clinic where there\nare sufficient people to really make a study of the situation. If you have\nany county institutions in or about Columbia, or institutions for mentally\ndeficient, I believe such institutions would be the ideal place to install a\nnumber of Van Wolkenten's devices and follow the physiological changes that\noccur in the individuals drinking water.\nI read with considerable interest your letter advising me that you fird\npractically the same amount of radium deposited in the system of Mr. Rapp on\nyour recent trip to Chicago as we found at the time of our examination Novembe\n9 & 10,1929. It would have been very fortunate had Mr. Armstrong been able\nto produce for you some of the other cases that showed appreciable amounts $6\ndetermine whether or not they had eliminated any of the radioactive materials\nduring the interum of the two examinations. You will recall that in the last\nparagraph of our article we called special attention to cases Nos. 4 and 9,\nNo. 9 being that of Mr. Rapp. The last sentence of this paragraph seems to\nbe pertinent, in that there may be some connection between other types of\nmedical treatment which these two individuals have had, and their retention\nof radium. In both cases the amount of radium administered was large, namely\n890 and 1130 micrograms respectively, which of course, is 4 or 5 fold times\nthe quantity of material administered to any of the patients at the Elgin\nState Hospital.\nHave you any knowledge as to whether or not they are continuing their\ninvestigational work along this line at Elgin? We have had little or no\ninformation from Mr. Armstrong recently, principaly because he is considerably\nin arrears in his account, and we have been endeavoring to collect some money\nfrom him. It is possible that thru our persistence in this matter Mr. Armstrong\nmay have sought out some other source of supply of this material.\nSincerely yours,\nVice President.\nHHBarker:RH"
}