 Widespread commercial exploitation of radium only began in 1913, by which time more efficient methods of extracting radium from pitchblende had been discovered and the mining of radium had taken off.The radium commonly used in bath salts, waters, and muds was in low-grade preparations, due to the expense, and their usefulness in curative solutions was questioned, since it had been agreed upon by physicians that radium could only be used successfully in high doses.It was believed that even radiation emanation at higher doses that were useful would cause no harm, because the radioactive deposits were found to have been absorbed and released in urine and waste within a period of three hours.