LOST RADIUM CAUSES UPSET

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17853, 22 May 1926, Page 10

LOST RADIUM CAUSES UPSET

STOCK VALUED AT £iOOO IS THROWN AWAY AMONG BANDAGES MANY DIFFICULTIES IN SEARCH, WHICH MIGHT LAST FOR MONTHS. (Special to the “Star.”) * AUCKLAND. May 21. The proverbial search for a needle in a haystack presents a simple problem compared with the hunt which is at present being conducted in the science department of Auckland University College in the hope of recovering a speck of radium, valued at over £IOOO, from some .hundredweight of ashes, earth, and other materials in which it is believed to be contained. Definite particulars concerning the matter are not available, but it is said that the radium, which would not be larger than pinhead size, was being used this week in the treatment of a patient at an Auckland private hospital. It was contained in a small tube, which was placed under the patient's bandages. When the bandages were removed the small tube was not noticed and was thrown aside with them. The bandages were later removed to the incinerator and burned. The caretaker later removed the ashes in the usual wa3' and spread them oufr on a path in the hospital grounds. It was some time afterwards that the small tube and its precious contents were missed. Hasty inquiries were at once made, and the probable fate of the radium became evident. Men were at once set to work to dig up the path and place the earth and ashes in zinc tins and any other receptacles which could be found at the moment. The whole of the materials, to the extent of several hundredweight, were then transported to the University College, with a request that search should at once be instituted for the missing radium. A test was made and radium was found to be present in the materials received at the- college, but the result indicated that only about onefiftieth of the original quantity had been rescued. It is considered possible that some of the precious element was carried away by heavy rain which fell between the time when the ashes were spread on the path and the commencement of digging operations. In some of its forms radiufn is soluble in water, and it is not known what changes the missing speck may have undergone during its ordeal by fire. However, no precaution was neglected to ensure that as much as possible should be recovered. The chimney of the incinerator was dismantled and all the soot was scraped from the inside and carried away for treatment. All the tools used in the intensive search have been collected and taken to the university. Even the clothing* worn by the nurse who discarded the bandages is to undergo, treatment with the ashes, earth and tools. Search for the elusive speck is now in full swing in the science department of the college. Quantities of earth and ashes are being stirred and mixed up with water with most painstaking thoroughness before being filtered and boiled in large glass bowls two or three feet in diameter. The search seems likely to be a lengthy one, and it is stated that it will be several. weeks, if not months, before it is concluded. One difficulty is caused by the impossibility of knowing what changes the radium has undergone and in what form it should be sought. Another is due to lack of the necessary facilities in the - Dominion for recovering so rare an element.