The Wonders of Radium by Maynard Shipley

It has been well said that a general idea of what radioactivity signifies is a necessary part of the education of every intelligent person, since "it is the one thing of paramount importance in the chemical and physical science of the day. " But its importance extends much farther, since radioactivity is now employed in many departments of industry, as well as in biology and medicine.

It is known that the rays from radium have the power to stimulate all forms of life, even to the extent of speeding up the growth of plants and of making dormant plants burst into bud. Some authorities, as we shall see later, are fully convinced that the radiations can be employed successfully in the prolongation of human life. It is well known that radiotherapy has, for some years now, been employed advantageously in the treatment of many forms of illness, and is, in some institutions, the sole medium for the cure or alleviation of cancer and other malignant growths.