The Pittsburgh Press from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 106

Fainting the Luminous Numbers on Watche Without Warning Began to Bombard and I Fifty Young Factory Qrio for Painful, Linger! Inevitable Death But id TASY work and rather food pay brought about one hundred in women to the factory of the United States Radium Corporation New Jersey. Their job was to paint with radium the figures on fac artrVta wttirfi minm It tit tfarbtiMa 7 i I I I Nobody knew that the hand of death punched the time-clock for thosef the radium watch factory. In pleasant surroundings, sitting in comfortebt the young women laughed and chatted as they dipped their brushes in th compound and painted the watches. Death sat by unseen and grinned as he each unsuspecting girl for the grave. Not until six years or more after the girls began work did anybody sus anything was wrong.

And it was not until Miss Marguerite Carlough, the; victim, died the other day, that the authorities fully awakened to the f. every girl in that factory, as she touched her paint brush to her lips to Mp inoculated herself with a speck or two of radium, and that this slowly accu poison piled up in her tissues, bombarding her bones and organs until net gave up the fight and death followed. Seven young women are in their graves, three are sure' to die witht months, and thirty to thirty-five more are inevitably marked for death wij next two or three or possibly five years. Science knows no remedy; the: death is already reaching out for them. X-Ray Photograph of the Unfortunate Marguerite Carlough, Showing How the Insidious Poison Ate Away the Girl's Lower Jaw to a Mere Stump; This Photograph Was Taken Three Weeks Before Her Death.

a Photograph of the Crumpled Jaw-- Bone of -Amelia Maggia as Removed from Her at the' Autopsy Immediately After Her Death. may lead to death long after it first found its way into the body. The deaths so far caused in the epidemic in Newark were probably due to the action of mesothorium, which is a radioactive substance, similar to radium, but more powerful and less expensive. The ca pri shj an on po usi 0 i a. T' 'HI A' I (J "'m Wt 'fi T' life of mesothorium is about five and a half years, but in the course of its short life it discharges about forty times as much energy per day as radium.

Thus if a person known to have mesothorium in his system can survive for longer than five years after the first ingestion he will probably be safe from further harm, although during those five years he might suffer ravages such as decayed bones, loss of teeth and general weakness, which would leave their mark on him for the rest of his life. Radium, however, does ntit let its victim off with any such mild sentence' as five years. It continues to throw off its rays for a period of seventeen hundred and fifty years. Thus if radium finds its way into a human system in sufficient quantity to be harmful and exert a mild but constant injurious effect it will certainly bring its victim to the grave sooner or tot SUI cat pej sui do Mi Ed tal I I Mrs. Haiel Kuser, Who Died I After an Illness of Four Year.

1 Her Body Was so Badly Dis- I I integrated That the Family I Refused to Let Friends See Her I I Remains. Radiograph of Normal Fore Finger, and, Below, Radiograph of the Fore Finger of a Radium Worker Showing How Radium Has Eaten the Bone Away. been told what they are really suffering from. Their ailments have been diagnosed as rheuma (C) IKS. by American Weekly, Inc.

Great Britain Rlfhta Rtaerred. A TOOTHACHE, an ulcerated jaw and finally the death. of a young girl factory worker in New-ark, New Jersey, interested the dentist, who was puzzled by the case. He performed an autopsy, removed the dead girl's spongy jawbone and to his astonishment he found that it glowed brightly in the dark and threw off such a continuous bombardment of radium particles that he could take an X-ray photograph by using the unfortunate Amelia Maggia's jawbone. And thus suddenly and unexpectedly, science stumbled upon a strange, new and hitherto unsuspected disease.

Amelia Maggia had worked painting numerals on wath faces in the factory of the United States Radium Corporation in Orange, New Jersey, and she had slowly piled up in her body a little store of radium the busy, tireless little substance, which goes on for countless years throwing off particles which bombard the nerves, muscles and bones until death follows. Seven young women who worked in that factory are already in their graves, at least three more are sure to die within a few months, and thirty to thirty-five more are marked for death, and will die any time within the next five years. The disease is new in medical history, and science knows no way to get the restless little radium out of the human body when once it lodges there. One of the distressing facts connected with this new disease is the discovery that the patient may not know he or she has it for, perhaps, eight or ten years after the victim has become infected by it. But it i sure to cause death sooner or later.

This new disease, which, as already stated, is the result of absorption into the body of. various small particles of radium, is somewhat similar to phosphorus poisoning, and results In a condition resembling pernicious anemia. The patient begins to be pale, weak, and as the bones and tissues decay, very painful abscesses develop and death finally ends a long period of helpless suffering. It was the death of Miss Marguerite Carlough, which took place recently at her home in East Orange, New Jersey, which confirmed the authorities in their belief that the mysterious, long-drawn-out epidemic was the result of radium poisoning. Miss Carlough was the seventh young woman to die within 'he last three years under conditions that were the tame in each case.

Each one of these girls had formerly been employed in the plant of the Radium Corporation in New Jersey, and in this plant radium was produced and was handled by the girls in the course of their daily work. Part of the business of the plant was the painting of luminous figures on watch dials, so that they would be visible at night. All the girls who have died and all those who, it seems are fated to die were engaged in this work. The paint they used was composed of a zinc sulphid compound, a solution of gum arabic, to make it stick, and a small amount of radium or mesothorium, which made the paint luminous in the dark. The paint was applied to the figures on the watch dials with a small camel's hair brush, and the girls were accustomed to place this brush in their mouths for the purpose of keeping it sharply pointed, so that they could make the very fine strokes required.

Dr. Joseph P. Knef and Dr. Harrison Mart-land, who are chiefly responsible for tracking down the strange epidemic, believe that a small amount of radium got into the mouth in this way, worked its way between the teeth and into the cavities of the gums, finally penetrated to the marrow of the bones and other blood-producing centres, and there set about its deadly work sometimes remaining in the system for years before any outward symptoms of disorder were produced. in' asl tiv we tha wo dei tivl dill ing Col foi; unj i git at! thi th km inv be 195 anf disj me tism, pernicious anemia or some similar disease, but the doctors in charge of most of the cases know what the real trouble is, know that the pain suffered by their patients cannot be permanently relieved, and that the chances of recovery are practically non-existent.

it later developed, symptoms of the malady which was to keep her suffer later. How soon, naturally depends on the amount absorbed and on the resistance of the body infected; but, given a large enough quantity to be dangerous, the end is the same, whether the person be a frail invalid or a two-hundred-pound athlete. It was about three years ago that a young woman by the name of Amelia Maggia entered the office of Dr. Knef in Newark and complained that for nearly two years she had been having constant trouble with her teeth. She said that for several weeks the pain in her lower gum and jaw had become so intense that it was almost unbearable.

She had been advised to consult Dr. Knef as an expert on unusual diseases of the mouth bones. Upon examination it was discovered that she had some time before had a tooth pulled, and the resulting wound in her mouth had failed to heal. This in itself did not mean anything serious necessarily, but there was noticeable an odor which was peculiar to the trained nostrils of the doctor. It differed decidedly from the odor commonly associated with the usual forms of necrosis of the jaw.

(The word "necrosis," by the way, means more than simply the decay of a bone it means the death of it, and once it has run its course there is nothing to do but remove the bone.) The doctor, realizing that some extraordinary affliction had affected Miss Maggia's lower jaw, resorted to extreme methods of treatment for necro Miss Marguerite Carlough, the Latest Victim of Radium Poisoning. ing intensely ine most disquieting pnase, nowever, is mat una for nearly two years, but which, at the time, seemed small factory in New Jersey is certainly not the only nothing more than painful dental irregularities. It place where the danger of radium poisoning exists, was not until more than a year after her last possible Thousands of men and women are employed in lab-exposure to the radium in the factory that sho de- oratories and plants either in producing radioactive veloped serious pains in her jaws and head, and was material or in applying it to watch dials, electrical forced to remain in her home, gradually becoming a appliances, compasses and other nautical instru-helpless invalid. ments. These people are also exposed to the same It is not possible for any one to say exactly how danger that the girls in Newark manv other youne women there are who have in Also radioactive substances are often introduced their bodies the little particles which mean that they into the body by competent and reputable physicians in treating gout, arthritis, various afflictions of the bones and some forms of anemia.

"When this is done," said Dr. Martland, "death may follow a long time after, from the effects of the constant irradiation from the radioactive substance." sis. Nothing he could do arrested the progress of the disintegration in the slightest degree. The young are under a sentence of death which modern science is unable to defeat. Three cases are now under treatment which can only result in death, according to Dr.

Knef. These cases are advanced, and cure is obviously impossible, but there are many more young women, formerly employed in the Radium Corporation, who may have, years ago, absorbed into their bodies radium particles which have as yet That simnly means that anybody who contracts woman seemed to be in constant agony, and only one of these diseases may, while being cured of his superficial palliatives to deaden the pain brought her any relief. How severe this pain was will be wa original complaint, contract another infinitely worse. The -radium injected into the body would promptly given no indication of their presence. readily imagined by anyone who has ever suffered from an abscessed tooth.

Miss Maggia's entire lower jaw, the roof of her mouth and even certain of the These eirls are now scattered among the various go about its work of throwing off rays which affect Mowark. and manv of them particularly the blood-makine centres. That stimu- oro tn all nnnoarnnrpq in o-noH health, butthev have lation would relieve and perhaps cure gout and the bones of her ears may be said to have been one large no way of knowing whether they have been infected other ailments for which it is used, but the trouble is, abscess. or not Even if some radium is in their systems, it after the cure is affected, thre radium goes right oil Despite all that could be done, this agony con- would be very difficult for a physician to detect it. tnrowing on tnose stimulating rays, as the bom- tmuea ior about seven months.

By this time the bardment of rays continues the very centres which unfortunate girl's chin bone had so far disintegrated were benefited at first become over They that the doctor removed it, not by an operation, but become exhausted from the incessant stimulation, merely by putting his fingers in her mouth and lift-falter in their work and finally fatal results may ing it out A week or so later the entire lower jaw ensue. was removed in the same way. Here a distressing. The particles are so very small that it is not possible to measure them chemically in the laboratory, even after a person has died and the affected parts can be analyzed. To detect radium in a living person is extremely difficult, even for an expert thoroughly fflmiliflr with its manifestations.

And the thing to be noted Is that once radium, but important, discovery was made. It became evi dent that whenever portion of the affected bone The plight of these young women who must live or some other radioactive substance, gets into the in suspense, awaiting some symptom that they are body it does hot dissolve it is absolutely indissoluble, affected, is deplorable enough. But there are some either through the action of the body fluids or by Miss Carlough herself had left the employ of the was removed, instead of arresting the course of the necrosis, it speeded it it opened channels to new parts of the mouth which had previously been somewhat protected by the bone. In view of this For a year or thirty or thirty-five othU-s who are even more un- chemicals which the physician may inject It re- company more than three years ago. fortunate.

There are at least tnat many wno are mains intact, unceasingly uirowmg on its rays, na go, following she was troubled with nothing more serious than frequent toothaches, which were, as being treated by physicians in Newark who have not dium itself "lives" for a great many years, and thus fact, the physicians fighting this disease do not now.