RADIUM BEARER.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 858, 28 June 1910, Page 4

RADIUM BEARER.

“ Radium bearer” is a new occupation for decayed gentlewomen. There is a fine sound about the name, and the ladies who carry radium remind one of the ancient runners who handed on the torch. The profession is not extravagantly well paid, but it is safe, and not exacting. The qualifications required are honesty, carefulness, and vigilance. Radium is constantly wanted in the different hospitals in Great Britain and Europe, which are not furnished with separate supplies. The precious matter has, therefore, to be lent from one establishment to another when occasion requires. As a few grains of radium are worth a fortune, some care has to be observed in handing it round. Doctors decline the responsibility now, especially since a well-known physician absent-mindedly left in a taxi-cab some time ago a particle ol the precious stuff, which he was carrying from his clinic to a hospital. Hence the new profession of radium bearers. Radies of unimpeachable respectability and proved trustworthiness are selected. Their duty consists in carrying the radium whithersoever it is wanted. It must never leave their sight, and when it is needed for hospital operations they must be present, and recover possession of the substance as soon as it is no longer used. The radium bearer is paid 30s or £2 a week.