KILLED IN A DARK ROOM.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLII, Issue 1742, 18 February 1921, Page 7

KILLED IN A DARK ROOM.

SCIENTIST'S FORGETFULNESS. A verdict of death by misadventure was recorded at the inquest at Westninster on William Arthur Hayward, i young science student, who was 'dlled by an explosion at the Imperial Jollege of Science, South Kensington. It came out in the evidence that Mr Hayward was experimenting with high-pressure gases in a darkened room, and, immediately after the explosion, although he was suffering from great haemorrhage, he switched on the light to see what had happened. Professor William Arthur Bone, explained that the object of the experiment was to obtain a photographic record by a well-known method. It was Mr Hayward'S custom, on occount of the nature of the experiment, and having to make a photographic records, to see that he would not be distracted during the final Btages, to lock himself in what was practically a dark room, the floors being of concrete and the walls and ceiling being painted black. There was a dark blind that would be pulled down before the final stage was reached, making the room lighttight. If there had been no mishap nothing wouKl have been heard outside the room except a little click. Hearing a sharp report, he looked through the keyhole of Mr Hayward's room and saw that the arc light of his apparatus was on. He realisedd at once that something serious had occurred, and had the door broken open with sledge hammers. Mr Hayward was lying in a deep pool of blood. A metal dial on the gauge of the apparatus had blown up and caused a deep wound in the neck. The coroner remarked that the accident was evidently due to momentary forgetfulness, to which we were all "liable, on the part of Mr Hayward, whose death was a real-loss to scienca