£10.000 IN A DUST CART

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 42, 12 November 1921, Page 8

£10.000 IN A DUST CART

LOSSES OF VALUABLE TUDES OF RADIUM. One little episode in the romantic history of radium, an episode, which occur'red three years ago, was revealed recently. A nurse at. a Bradford (England) hospital was clearing away the dirty dressings after treatment on a pa- i tient for cancerous growth. Tho tube of radium lay, as she thought, in one receiver, while the dirty dressings lay in another, but immediately the dressings had been thrown on the open wardroom fire, the tube was missed, and the nurse realised, with horror what had occurred—about £3lBOO worth of radium v had gone into the 'fire along with the dirty dressings. As soon as the nurse realised what had occurred, the fire, fortunately burning verj- low, was put' out, and every speck of ash and dirt was collected in a box anil dispatched to the Radium Institute in London. The radinmm, as is usual, was in a glass tube enclosed in a silver tube, and the Radium as is usual, was in a glass tube tube had only fused, and that little, if any, of the radium could have becolHS scattered. Within a few days *tlle radium was back in Bradford, and a ncFriP racked Jiunse and * worried Oommittea breathed freely again. Discussing the incident with Dr. William Mitchell, a well-known X-ray specialist in Bradford, a "Yorkshire Post*' reporter asked what was the strangest case he had ever known of radium being lost and found, and Dr. Mitchell recounted the following occurrence:— “At aTtlanchester hospital a few years ago a woman was being treated for cancer, and a tube containing £‘lo,ooo worth of radium was embedded in her Breast. Nurses were detailed to remain with her night and day, and never to leave her side, but one nurse let the patient out of her sight for one fcrter'moinent, and when, the dressings were next removed the’tube oT raaium had gone. At once a general 'stand fast’ was declared, and every possible means of disappearance was subjected to minute examination, even to the waste and refuse pipes being stopped and eearched; every conceivable method of egress was probed to the utmost. But the tube could not b« found, and an irreplaceable loss seemed certain. At last it was decided to see what could be done with the gold-leaf electroscope, and a well-known physicist, who, if memory senves, was Sir William Lod'ro, was summoned to aid in the search. When the electroscope is chaiged its two gold leaves stand stiffly apart; whbn discharged the leaves wilt and collapse. „ Radium and X-rays both, have the power of ionising the air, changing it from a non-conducting to a conducting body, so that if a charged electroscope is brought into the neighbourhood of radium tho leaves will immediately oegin to droop, that being the method used to measure the intensity .or strength of radium. With this instrument Sir Oliver plaved the part of diviner, searching throughout the hospital and wards. But still the radium could not be found. Then someone recalled that the pieiious day’s refuse had not yet been removed from the hospital precincts. The happy thought was only just in time, for th« carts were already loaded up ready to go away. The electroscope was carried towards the carts', and its leaves at once began to wilt. It waa easy to pick out the actual wagon, for the sold reaWs trembled like aspen leaves, but further search had? to bo conducted by removing the instrument to some suitable distance, and carrying single bucketiuls of refuse towards it. The cart had been half-emptied, bucketful by bucketful, before the missing tube was found. Another Bradford doctor, who was asked what stood out most prominently in his mind in connection with his dealings with radium, recalled the tragic exnerience of a young student, who was given a tube containing £6OOO worth to take from the ward to the resident medical officer. He placed it in his trousers pocket, forgot all about it, and went to the theatre. Therq was a tremendous “to do ” but by the time the young man was located his thigh was already badly burned.