From its discovery by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898 until the 1930s, radioactive material was seen as something of a wonder chemical. Many and various applications were quickly found for its unique properties. The craze caught on around the world–including New Zealand, where radioactive gas was bottled and sold as a beneficial general tonic and cure-all.
Bathing in radioactive water was also offered at a beautiful spa-house in Rotorua.
The government and the tourist department had high ambitions for the Tudor-style bathhouse which opened in 1908. Its imposing facade was matched by a luxurious interior featuring elaborate marble sculptures. The public were invited to soak in mud baths and Turkish baths, and deep pools of natural mineral water for the treatment of chronic disorders.
It was run by a specialist in medicinal springs, Dr Arthur Wohlmann, who had worked at the Royal Mineral Water Hospital in the renowned British spa town of Bath. During a visit to England in 1913 Wohlmann was introduced to what was said to be the therapeutic benefits of radioactive mineral water and on his return to New Zealand he convinced the government to purchase a £250 machine from England—known as an activator—capable of producing radioactive water. The machine was installed at the bathhouse in 1914.
The activator took the form of a ceramic vessel which held a small quantity of radium bromide, which emitted radon gas into the water, making it radioactive. It was given to patients as a drink, and the recommended intake was four to six glasses imbibed over the course of a day. Wohlmann’s theory was that this would “maintain the charge in the blood’” with expected benefits that included enhanced sexual activity, increased urine production and better digestion. His view was that drinking the infused water was the most satisfactory method of administration over other methods because it “stayed in the body much longer”.
Radon water could also be introduced to the body through rectal or virginal douches, or by injection. Other ‘treatments’ included patients soaking in hot baths of radioactive water and inhaling radon gas.
Sales of the water peaked in 1916 when more than 8500 glasses were sold. Its popularity declined over the following years and by 1922 sales were down to only 300 glasses a year. The product was withdrawn completely in 1925.
There is no readily available information on the health complications that New Zealanders might have suffered as a result of these treatments.
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Around the world, radioactive material was used as a treatment for a wide range of health issues, from cancer and menstrual bleeding problems to constipation, ringworm and acne. It was such a novelty that in some countries, women applied it to their hair and skin for special occasions because of the soft green glow it produced.
There were high hopes that New Zealand might have its own ready supply of the element. In 1910, a sample of water taken from a lake on White Island was found to contain traces of radium. A sample of the water had been sent to the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University’s Department of Physics for analysis and resulted in the laboratory asking for a larger sample of water for further testing.
Rotorua’s natural hot springs were themselves attracting a lot of attention as a potential source of radium. Two local doctors, Theodore Endletsberger and Herbert Bertram, examined the thermal springs for the presence of radium, and they found that several had evidence of being highly radioactive. Once again samples of the water were sent overseas for further testing. Endletsberger and Bertram believed that the presence of radium in the springs could offer cures for certain diseases.
Many hospitals and doctors were keen to begin treatments using radium. The Waipawa Hospital Board iintroduced radium treatments at Waipukurau Hospital in 1910, reporting that the treatments had cured cases of recurring epithelioma (cancer) of the lips and had been a “great use” in treating other forms of skin cancer and glandular afflictions.
Money to purchase the radium had been given by the former Liberal Party MP for Waipawa, William Smith. His donation was matched pound for pound by a government subsidy.
Palmerston North was another region where officials were keen to take up the new miracle treatments. In December 1910, the Palmerston North Hospital and Charitable Aid Board agreed to a proposal to raise £3000 to enable it to buy radium for the cure of cancer and skin diseases.
The proposal was put forward to the board by three local doctors who offered to carry out the treatments free of charge to enable the board to assess the outcome. It seems that proposal did not go ahead. The following year, local doctor Arthur Martin proposed the establishment of a radium institute for Palmerston North, but it aroused little public interest. It was seen as a fad.
But Dr Martin renewed his call for a radium institute at Palmerston North in 1913. He told the Manawatu Herald, “The treatment of certain maladies by radium has never been a fad. Today all reasonable people must admit that it is a most valuable therapeutic agent. It is an abiding pity that we have no radium in Palmerston today. It is a national disgrace that there is not a radium depot already established in this Dominion. All other countries have clamoured for it and got it. Japan has purchased all she could get. Why should New Zealand stand out in romantic isolation and be without it?”
He wanted support from the whole of the North Island to establish the institute with its own building, medical expert and supporting staff. The proposal was enthusiastically backed by the chairman of the Palmerston North Hospital Board, James Wilson. A radium institute committee was formed and a fundraising campaign got underway, attracting donations from many quarters, including the donation of £1000 from an anonymous donor in Hawke’s Bay.
In a short space of time the fund stood at more than £2000.
The hospital board backed the proposal by circulating an appeal for funds to all hospital boards in the North Island. In the circular, chairman James Wilson wrote, “Radium as a therapeutic agent is now beyond the experimental stage, so far as proof of its benefits go. There is no reason to doubt that, when further investigations are made, it will be the means of assisting the surgeon in dealing with cases which have hitherto seemed hopeless, as well as in giving relief from the pain so often accompanying the class of disease to which radium gives the greatest hope of cure or relief. Within a few years the absence of radium in a hospital will be as rare as the absence of an operating table.”
Other support came from the Palmerston North Borough Council which donated an acre of land for the proposed institute building.
Dr Martin died in the New Zealand Stationary Hospital in France on September 17, 1916, from wounds received while working as a doctor at the front with the No. 2 Field Ambulance of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force during the Battle of the Somme. He was 39. He had also served with distinction during the Boer War in South Africa.
Not long after the WWI, the dangers of radium and radioactive water began to become clear, and progressively the use of radium as an additive began to be banned.
It was eventually agreed the money raised for the Palmerston North Radium Institute should be used instead to establish a scientific institute, including an X-ray department, at Palmerston North Hospital.
Despite the growing awareness of the dangers, some radioactive patent medicines continued to be made and consumed, mainly in America. One of the most common and popular was Radithor, which was distilled water infused with small amounts of radium-226 and -228 isotopes. Radithor was finally withdrawn in 1932 by the FDA. The ban followed the horrible death of wealthy American socialite, industrialist and sportsman, Eben Byers, who began drinking Radithor after injuring his arm in 1930. He took multiple doses of the product daily and died as a result of various cancers in 1932 after undergoing successive radical surgeries. He had consumed as many as 1400 bottles of Radithor.
His body contained so much radioactivity that he had to be buried in a lead-lined coffin.
A mildly abbreviated chapter taken with kind permission from the recently published Great Tales of Aotearoa by Tom Clarke (Bateman, $39.99), available in bookstores nationwide. It’s an anthology of tales which include high treason, nautical disasters, courage and survival.
