RADIUM NEEDS GREATEST CARE

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17854, 24 May 1926, Page 9

RADIUM NEEDS GREATEST CARE

NO ONE CAN SWALLOW IT IN CHRISTCHURCH. The loss of £IOOO worth of radium in Auckland by its being thrown away with furnace ashes, and the swallowing 6f £350 worth by a patient in a Paris hospital, have focussed interest on the manner in whibh the radium is handled in hospitals, and the means adopted of tracing its presence w’hen apparently lost.

A “ Star ” reporter spent an interesting half-hour in the Radium Department of the Christchurch Hospital this morning. . He was shown by Mr C. Hines, assistant in the Department, and formerly of the Middlesex Hospital (London), the amount of care taken with the precious element, and was given a practical demonstration of the manner in which it was located.

In regard to the message published on Saturday, in which it was stated that £IOOO worth of radium, contained in a tube, was lost, Mr Hines said that it would have been a fairly easy matter to find the tube, if it had not burst. From the great trouble taken with the ashes he surmised that the tube had been broken, in which case the radium, which consisted of greyish-white grains like salt, -would be difficult to recover. If the container were of silver, it would have been melted by the fire, which would not have affected one of platinum. He considered that the tube had been of silver and had been melted by fire. Until then the. grains had not been scattered.

The message from Paris wSs interpreted to mean that the patient had swallowed the tube itself, which would be about the size of a small gramophone needle. In this case, unless the tube irritated, there would be little damage to the human system unless the tube was lodged in one place for more than an hour. The radium rays would then burn the internal organs. In the ordinary course the tube would pass through the intestines, and be recovered. The patient, in his sleep, had probably bitten the string which held the radium in its place in his throat.

The presence of radium is detected at the Christchurch Hospital by an electroscope invented by Sir Ernest Rutherford. It is used to measure the intensity of radium, as well as to detect it. The electroscope consists of two metal chambers built one upon the other. The bottom one has a door, and the top one a window through which can be seen a golf leaf suspended by a wire which goes through a sulphur plug in the roof of the bottom chamber. When the wire holding the gold leaf is charged with electricity the leaf is deflected; and the presence of radium near the electroscope will then cause the leaf to drop at a rate in proportion to the intensity of the element. This drop is observed through a telemicroscope, and is timed by a stop watch. Five millegrammes of radium worth about £96. were used to give a demonstration of this. The stock of radium at the Hospital is valued at about £7500. “Is there any chance of radium being lost?” asked the reporter. He. was soon convinced that there was very little chance, and that its loss would very soon be discovered. To prevent the’ small tubes froifi gttinfc AStrAy among bandages, red buttons are tied to them. The rules for the staff make it necessary that the amount of radium taken from the safe should be jotted down, also the purpose for which it is used, and the time when it is returned. The amount in the sale is checked over every night.