Description of an antique radium-goblet; a dangerous curiosity.

IN THE years 1903 and 1904, shortly after the discovery of radium, small amounts of radioactivity were discovered in the water of the health springs of the spas of Germany and France. It was found that this radioactivity was due to radon, a gaseous daughter-product of radium. The supposed medicinal benefit from drinking of, or bathing in natural springwater was ascribed to the radon. A medical article in the journal Radium of 1916 reflects contemporary opinion: "Radium is absolutely not poisonous, it is absorbed by the body as readily as sunlight is by the plant".16 The rationale for the use of radioactivity internally was based on the belief that it activated enzymes, relieved pain and reduced blood pressure.15 The drinking of radioactive spa waters was advised as a therapy for liver diseases, rheumatic sicknesses, etc.14'18 Consequently radon-containing water was increasingly prescribed, and, in addition, people started to prepare it artificially using various equipment. The Radium Ore Revicator Company in New York advertised that 155,400 people were using their products. Also in Europe a large number of radium-goblets were put on the market and could be obtained without consulting a physician. Brand names included Fontano, Aktivator, Erko, Bahr, and Radium A.G. These goblets, which could be filled with water, were provided with a radium-containing and thus radioactive compound. By radioactive decay of radium, radon (half-life 382 days) is formed, which in this case is absorbed by the water. It emits a-and y-rays. Generally the patients would drink this water after equilibrium times of twelve to twenty-four hours. The radioactive source consisted of a small amount of radium-containing ore, which was covered with a thin layer of paraffin wax, gelatine or something similar and packed in a silver gauze. A small package was obtained of the size of about 15 x 8 x 2 mm.6 In the radium-goblet under consideration such a package was actually found. Since the radioactive decay of radium is very slow (half-life 1600 years) it remains practically unchanged for unlimited periods. Since it was supposed that radium had a positive medicinal effect it was used not only in drinking cures, but also in the form of radium packs, slippers, bandages and even diet-bread.3 Radium was even injected into patients in order to act as a constant source of radon and its daughter-products in the human body. Radium was given orally and intravenously in the treatment of such diseases …