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The action of radium on human tissues was unknown until 1896, when Prof. Henri Becquerel of Paris, having incautiously carried a lump of pitchblende in his pocket, discovered on his skin, within two weeks, a severe inflammation, or ulcer, which was known as the famous "Becquerel burn. " As physicians of the nineteenth century were accustomed to burn out cancers with caustics, the idea occurred to them that the application of radium might prove to be an improvement on the older method.
It has proved to be so, affording in many cases not only relief, but in some instances, even a cure, not only for cancer, but for many other ailments -- as we shall see presently. Since that time active investigation into the action of radium on diseased tissues has been carried on, resulting in the establishment in Paris of the "_Laboratoire biologique du Radium_," and also of the Radium Institute of Vienna, followed by the establishment of somewhat similar institutions in various other countries, notably in England and the United States.