(1) It is worth recalling the history of this treatment, which began when American, James Douglas, discovered extensive pitchblende deposits on his Western mining properties.(2) The first discovery of pitchblende in the United States was associated with gold ores at the Wood mine in Gilpin County.(3) The most common ore of the element is pitchblende , although it is also present in other minerals, such as uraninite, carnotite, uranophane, and coffinite.(4) The hint of a new element in pitchblende materialized in July 1898, when the couple reported gathering a substance that was 400 times more active than metallic uranium.(5) The story of the Curie's four-year struggle to purify, purify, and purify over again the components of pitchblende has now been told in popular novels, plays, and motion pictures.
