Abstract
Summary
No excretion of thorium has thus far been discovered. Certain radioactive elements in the thorium series have, however, been found in the feces, urine and breath. Thorium × has been identified as the predominant element excreted in the feces, and thoron is definitely exhaled, as thorium B has been identified in the radioactive deposit from the breath. Such excretion of thorium × and thoron leads to reduced radioactivity in the body even if the thorium itself remains. As most of the γ-rays are emitted by disintegration products of thoron it is evident that the amount of thorium remaining in the tissues of a patient can not be determined with satisfactory accuracy by measurements of the γ-rays emitted from the patient (liver and spleen). During the disintegration process of some of the radioactive atoms such a displacement must take place that the newly formed atoms can escape.
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