HOW IT'S DONE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 162, 10 July 1940, Page 4

HOW IT'S DONE.

X-RAY EXAMINATION.

TESTING TERRITORIALS.

SCENES AT THE HOSPITAL.

"Breathe in—out —in—stop breathing!" A white-coated operator presses a pedal and the X-ray examination of a soldier is completed.

The object of this examination is to ascertain whether a man has any latent disease or defect in the chest, which would not be evident at the time of the ordinary medical test. Every recruit for the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force and every officer, noncommissioned officer and man of the Territorial Force must undergo both the medical and X-ray examinations, and th e standard is the same in each case.

At the Auckland Hospital last evening about 150 members of country units of the Territorial Force, from as far south as Te Kuiti and from the Bay of Plenty, who are undergoing three months' training at Narrow Neck, were put through the te6t. Stripped to the Waist. On arrival the men are met 'by a- sergeant from headquarters of No. 1 (Auckland) Area, which arranges all X-ray examinations with the hospital authorities, and handed a slip of paper bearing a number, hi an adjoining room they strip to the waist and take their turn in the queue. The wait is not cold, for the room is well heated.

Using a large calipers, an attendant measures the thickness of a man's chest and then makes an adjustment on the dial of a machine. This determines the quantity of power required to make the X-ray. The man then walks to the next machine, which is the one that takes the photograph of the chest.

Standing with his bare chest up against a huge glass plate and his hands placed to the rear of the hips, the )>erson going through the test is given instructions as to his breathing, and the operator then completes the action. Prior to this the machine was adjusted for height, a stick being used to measure the man. As he leaves the machine the man hands his numbered slip of paper to the operator and retires to dress. Negatives Numbered. In the meantime an attendant from the dark room takes the negative from the machine for developing purposes and replaces it with another for the next man. At the name time he takes the slip of paper, for that is the only identification mark for the negative. In a few days the result of the examination is known.

At the operations last night the men were dealt with at the rato of about one a minute, but the record stands at 94 in an hour. Among those being examined was a lieutenant-colonel, who, because of his height, had to be seated while the X-ray was being taken.

Thousands of Aucklanders have already l>een through the X-ray examination, and during the next few months thousands more will have a first-hand knowledge of the system in use.