V.
AN OUNCE OF RADIUM.
"It seems likely," said the President, with singular irrelevance, "that there will be a slump in radium."
"All South Africans are down," remarked Chillingford gloomily. "What in the world are you fellows laughing at?"
"It isn't a mine, Tommy. It's a horse. Won the Nobel Stakes," Marmaduke Percy called out.
"Order, gentlemen, if you please," continued the President. "I was remarking on the probability of a slump in radium. This is what to-day's paper says:
"'£896,000 was recently quoted as the market price for a single pound of radium. We suggest that it would be advisable for any holder to realise promptly, as Professor Blyth has discovered a method of obtaining this remarkable element from a substance other than pitch-blende. He has already isolated one ounce avoirdupois—at yesterday's price worth £56,000—which has been exhibited to a select number of scientists at his laboratory at Harlesden Green.