Then, of the other ills which will inevitably arise in our men through the hardships which they have endured are sure to be some of the cancerous type, many of which appear to succumb to treatment by radium. If a very small quantity indeed be carried for a few days in a pocket it will imprint itself upon the skin beneath as if it burnt the tissues. It is never advisable, therefore, to carry radium in the pocket without special precautions. One cannot help feeling, however, that in that little fact is a hint of usefulness when the best modes of application have been discovered, for as a means of safely and painlessly burning away some undesirable growth it would seem to be without a rival. It is said, too, that it has the strange power of discriminating between the normal and the abnormal, attacking the latter but leaving the former, so that when applied, say, to some abnormal growth like cancer it may be able to remove it without harmful effect upon the surrounding tissues. Of this, however, it is too soon to write with confidence. It has not been known long enough for our doctors to find out the best modes of use, but that will come with time: meanwhile there are indications that in all probability it will render good service to mankind. CHAPTER IV A GOOD SERVANT, THOUGH A BAD MASTER One morning during the war the whole British nation was startled to learn that Mr. Lloyd George, then the Minister of Munitions, had taken over a large number of distilleries. Could it be that he, a teetotaller and temperance advocate, was going to supply all his workers with whiskey? Or was he going to close the places so as to stop the supply of that tempting drink? Neither of these suggestions was his real reason. What he wanted the distilleries for was to make alcohol for the war, not for drinking purposes but for the very many uses which only alcohol can fulfil in most important manufactures. Probably alcohol is the next important liquid to water. For example, certain parts of shells have to be varnished and the only satisfactory way to make varnish is to dissolve certain gums in alcohol. The spirit makes the solid gum for the time being into a liquid which we can spread with a brush, yet, after being spread, it evaporates and passes off into the air, leaving behind a beautiful coating of gum. That is how all varnishing is done, the alcohol forming the vehicle in which the solid gum is for the moment carried and by which it is applied. It is far and away the most suitable liquid for the purpose, and without it varnishing would be very difficult and unsatisfactory. Hence one need for alcohol, to carry on the war.