Note 40 — Chapter X · THE WONDERFUL EFFECTS OF HEAT—(concluded).

A melancholy proof of this was furnished by the death of Mr. Hennell (the chemist at Apothecaries’ Hall) on the 4th June, 1842. He was in the act of mixing two separate portions of the powder in a moist state with an ivory knife, when the whole quantity, amounting to above 6 lbs. exploded, and shattered his head, breast, and right arm to atoms. A man, however, who was standing within four yards of him, was not injured, but the windows of the surrounding buildings were broken; while a large wooden block, upon which one of the basins was placed, was shivered, as was also the pavement on which it stood.