Uranium Ore as a Remedy

Abstract

WITH reference to Mr. H. Warth's letter in NATURE of November 11 (p. 38), it may be of interest to record a fact which has come under my notice while engaged in the development of a uranious mine in Turkestan. The ore is oxidised and calcareous, and contains uranium, vanadium, and copper, radium being present in accordance with Prof. Rutherford's formula, which gives the quantity of it in relation to the uranium. The uranium is on the average 3.8 per cent., but in some places reaches the ratio of 30 per cent. and more. Until now the work in the mine has proceeded only in the summer time, and in the winter season the workmen have migrated to the neighbouring coal and copper mines. As I know from the literature of the subject that vanadium and uranium are toxic substances, I instruct the workmen to wash their hands well before going to their dinner and after their work. “We do this”, they say, “but at the same time we know that in actual practice a cut on a hand, which lasts for a long time in a coal mine, here, when powdered by the ore, gets well very quickly”.