When I was a kid and a thermometer broke, Mom would show us how to
play with the mercury on a dime, and how it would coat the dime and
make it shiny. When SHE was a kid, her Dad brought home a pound
of the stuff for her to play with. I won't say she is completely sane :-)
but she is 86 and doesn't have major health problems (never had
cancer, her heart is ok, she has all her teeth, and keeps her own house).
Hooke, the inventor of the microscope, used to *drink* liquid mercury
because he felt it helped his stomach. Supposedly it's only the methyl
mercury that is extremely toxic. The compounds of mercury can kill
you. It does get excreted from the body though: our body is better at
getting rid of mercury than it is of getting rid of excess iron, which is
more irritating and more toxic than raw mercury. Here is an interesting tidbit:
As mentioned above, mercury metal is not a hazardous chemical. It is not poisonous, explosive, inflammable, unstable, irritating or reactive. Mercury compounds are, however, very damaging to kidneys and nervous systems and should definitely be avoided. Being afraid of mercury metal is like being afraid of salt, because salt contains the poison gas chlorine. The only hazard from mercury metal is chronic exposure to its vapor, which requires bad ventilation, long exposure, and a lot of mercury scattered about in warm places. Don't drink mercury, though it was once prescribed as a medicine. There is no danger in occasional external contact. These days, it is good not to dispose of it casually. Keep a bottle for scrap (dirty) mercury, and be very careful that all you use is properly accounted for. Mercury is best cleaned up manually. It coalesces in little drops that can be coaxed onto a piece of paper and put in a safe place. Work with it in a place where it will not get away from you, and, of course, work only with small amounts.
On Mon, Mar 14, 2011 at 11:45 PM, Chantelle <chantelles@cox.net> wrote:
I liked reading this. Did anyone else here play with mercury as a kid? Dh and I talk about that all the time as we remember it well :). The first time we heard people were concerned about it, we actually had to laugh.....But we take all of the usual precautions now that most health-focused people do.....we just have to wonder a bit :)Chantelleps-I've heard (not sure of the validity or point of it , or if the point is accurate rather I would say) that the hat making issue is where "mad as a hatter" came from as they thought it drove people mad.....I used to know MORE about that, but that is the only snippet I'm able to pull out at the moment and the "real point" has gone by the wayside....
On Mar 13, 2011, at 9:40 PM, Heather Twist wrote:
__._,_.___
0 comments:
Post a Comment