Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/765

 ISl rniiriiimiH m '" iirrrr Conducted by ELIZABETH SLOAN CHESSER, M.B. This important section of Every Woman's Encyclopaedia is conducted by this prominent lady doctor, who will give sound medical advice with regard to all ailments from childhood to old age. When completed this section will form a complete reference library in which will be found the best treatment for every human ill. Such subjects as the following will be fully dealt with : Home Nursing Infants' Diseases. Adults'' Diseases Homely Cures Consutiiption Health Hints Hospitals Health Resorts First Aid Common Medical Blunders The Medicine Chest Simple Remedies, etc., etc. Continued from page 6iq, Part s FHIE IRADEUM TIREATMEHT A Romance of Modern Times— A Discovery Made by a Woman — Effect of Radium on Skin Diseases — Removing Moles, Scars, or Stains — The British Radium Institute HThe woman's medical notebook would not be •■• complete without some reference to the almost miraculous properties of radium in the treatment of skin diseases. For one thing, this remarkable remedy was discovered by a woman, Madame Curie, whose name is famous throughout the entire scientific world. It was not before the year 1900 that the salts of radium were first isolated from pitch-blende, and at the present time — ten years later — there is only about one pound of this remarkable substance in existence. Its commercial value is priceless. An ounce is worth ;^i 50,000, and every gramme of the material equals in cash value ;^ 10,000. The effect of radium in the treatment of skin disease is due to the quality of " radio-activity " it possesses. This means that radium is con- stantly giving off rays which can penetrate solid substances, and have the power of affecting a photographic plate. The medical importance of Madame Curie's discovery of radium can be understood when it is stated that radium rays act on body tissues, destroying unhealthy cells in the most remarkable fashion. After one or two applications of radium a large, dark, hairy mole, a port-wine stain on the face, an eczema of years standing will disappear altogether. Modern Application of Radium One of the most interesting experiences of my life was an afternoon at the Radium Institute, Paris, where the most modern results of radium treatment are to be seen. The method of appli- cation of radium is extremely simple. In the old days a minute quantity of radium salt in a glass tube was simply held over the area of skin that was to be treated for a definite time daily. It was found, however, that although certain radium rays were curative, others were apt to cause injury to the healthy skin and underlying tissues. Tndeed, many of those who experiiuentcd with radium suffered permanent injury to the finger- tips and nails from destruction of the skin and underlying tissue. The modern treatment, therefore, is to spread the salt on a little disc with. a variety of chemical varnish, and to interpose thin sheets of aluminium or lead between the radium salt and the skin, which " cut off " the injurious rays and prevent them penetrating the tissues. It was with the greatest interest that I examined the little dark leather cases, exactly like ordinary jewellery cases, in which the radium applicators are placed in the Paris Institute. These discs, or applicators, vary from the size of a fourpenny- piece to a crown, and they are worth anything from ;^200 to ;^500. The " treatment " consists simply in placing one of these discs, covered with a thin indiarubber tissue, over the part for a certain time. The patients go regularly for treatment, and sit quite comfortably round, the room with a radium disc — perhaps fastened to the forehead, the eyelid, or the arm by a bandage. Several of the women were industriously engaged in embroidery in the indefatigable fashion of the Frenchwoman, and they told mc wonder- ful stories of the miraculous cures they had seen in the Institute. A woman had one side of her face covered with a red birth-mark, which was , cured after half a dozen sittings by radium treat- ment. A child had a nxvus, or little blood tumour, in the skin the size of a cherry cured after two or three applications by radium. Indeed, it is an accepted medical fact that radium treat- ment is the most wonderful agent in curing skin diseases, in removing moles, scars, or stains from the face. The treatment, however, must invariably be conducted by competent medical people. Each dose of radium has to be carefully ordered by prescription acconling to the case to be treated. A plate of a certain dianvte'- '- iir.'^crii^,.,]. The