Radium das Leben Emanator (ca. 1925)

This is a German radium emanator designed to add radon to drinking water. The latter would be contained in a small drinking glass (ca. 1.75" x 1.75") that is placed in the top of the unit. When the lid is screwed on, the tiny perforated capsule  attached to the inside of the lid (see photo below) is submersed in the water. The radon produced by the decay of the radium inside the capsule would then diffuse into the water. Unfortunately, the drinking glass is missing in this example. So is the radium (approximately 5 uCi), but that is a good thing.

The text on the top front of the device reads "Radium das Leben" which can be translated as "Radium Life." At the time, radioactivity was considered by some to be the life essence of water. Radioactivity was to water what oxygen was to air.

Beneath this, it reads "Garantiert 5000 Mache-Einheiten Kapazitat." This translates to "Guaranteed 5000 Mache Units Capacity." One Mache Unit generally equates to 364 pCi per liter of water.

The following text is engraved on the bottom of the unit:

D.R.G.M.

Sanitas-Gesellschaft m.b.H.

Zwickau Sa.

Bedeutendes Unternehmen

der Radium-Strahlen-Therapie

This indicates that the device is a German Reich Registered Design, and that the manufacturer, the Sanitas Society Ltd. in Zwickau, Saxony is a leader in the field of radium therapy.

Size: ca. 6" high and 4" diameter at base