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    "localId": "75725733",
    "label": "Letters Sent to S.C. Lind, October 8, 1930",
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    "id": "75725733",
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    "title": "Letters Sent to S.C. Lind, October 8, 1930",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75725733",
    "collections": [
        "Safety Light Collection",
        "Records Related to Radium Dial Painters"
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    "seq": 1,
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    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/SLC/Radium/SLC_0002234_Page_1.jpg",
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    "ocrText": "October 8th,1930.\nDr. S. C. Lind,\nUniversity of Minnesota,\nMinneapolis,\nMinn.\nDear Dr. Lind:\nI have had in mind writing you several times during the\npast few weeks, but have hesitated to do so as I did not want to appear to\nbe trying to inject myself into a situation which is supposedly being con-\nducted by disinterested parties.\nI refer to the investigation being conducted by the U. S.\nDepartment of Health on the employees engaged in the application of lumin-\nous material to watch, clock dials, etc. I presume that the final data\nwill be submitted to you for your opinion before it is published, and in\nthis connection I am now taking the liberty of advising you as to the re-\naction of the clock companies toward the Department's survey, and also the\nopinions of Dr. Flinn, who has for the past 4 or 5 years been making\nperiodical surveys of the employees of the clock people thruout the Eastern\npart of the country, especially our clients.\nWe are reliably informed that the clock companies have not\nbeen at all well satisfied with the actual work of testing the girls as done\nby the Department and its representatives. A number of incidents have\noccurred which have tended to weaken their faith in this survey, most of\nwhich we have knowledge of, but presume that you would not be materially\ninterested in.\nAs you realize the matter of electroscopic examination, both\nby expired air and gamma ray test of individuals for the presence of radio-\nactive materials is a rather specialized problem, and one which, even though\nwe have had several years experience, we still find that upon each examina-\ntion we learn new things. This work was originally done with my full\nknowledge, and I may say that together with Dr. Schlundt we probably laid\nthe foundation for the work. Dr. Flinn has materially advanced the\ntechnique due to the fact that he has made a large number of tests upon\nthe girls, probably in the neighborhood of 2 to 3000.\nWe are impressed by one or two important facts which I wish\nto call to your attention: First, we feel that it is highly problematical\nwhether it is possible to determine quantities of less than 1.5 to 2 micro-\ngrams of radium element in a living person by gamma radiation. This is\nespecially true where the tests are being conducted in the field - if the\npatient were to be examined in the laboratory proporly equipped for making\nthese tests, and the tests could be repeated a number of times on success-\nive days, and the results were always constant, I personally feol that\nquantities of less than 1.5 micrograms could be estimated with a fair\ndegree of accuracy. However, the Department of Public Health tests were\nall made in the field, and according to what we have heard some of the"
}