Mercury (element)

“ Yes, like any other liquid; only it requires a much greater degree of heat. At the temperature of six hundred degrees, it begins to boil and evaporate like water.
Mercury combines with gold, silver, tin, and with several other metals; and, if mixed with any of them in a sufficient proportion, it penetrates the solid metal, softens it, loses its own fluidity, and forms an amalgam, which is the name given to the combination of any metal with mercury, forming a substance more or less solid, according as the mercury or the other metal predominates. ”

“ In a barometer tube, the surface of the mercury is convex, owing partly to the repulsion between the glass and mercury.
All solids, however, do not repel mercury. If any golden trinket be dipped in that liquid, or even be exposed for a moment to contact with it, the gold will be instantly intermingled with particles of quicksilver, the metal changes its colour, and becomes white like silver, and the mercury can only be extricated by a difficult process. Chains, seals, rings, &c. should always be laid aside by those engaged in experiments or other processes in which mercury is used. ”

“ Recent researches have shown, however, that the metal so obtained is not chemically pure, there being found in the distillate traces of other metals. Absolutely pure mercury does not at all adhere to any surface which does not consist of a metal soluble in mercury. ”

“ All the metals are fusible, but some require very different degrees of heat to render them fluid,—platinum requiring the heat of the oxy-hydrogen blowpipe, while tin melts in the flame of a candle, and mercury is fluid at all temperatures in this climate, but becomes solid at 40° Fahr. below 0,—a temperature occasionally experienced in the Arctic regions, where the mercurial thermometer is useless, the mercury becoming solid. ”

“ Oxidised, or otherwise impure mercury, may adhere to glass; moreover, such mercury would not have the density of the pure metal, and therefore the barometric column would be either greater or less than it should be. The mercury of commerce generally contains lead; sometimes traces of iron and sulphur. It is necessary, therefore, for the manufacturer to purify the mercury; and this is done by washing it with diluted acetic, or sulphuric acid, which dissolves the impurities. No better test can be found for ascertaining if the mercury be pure than that of filling a delicate thermometer tube ”

“ Lavoisier abandoned tin and lead, and made use of a liquid metal called mercury. Mercury possesses not only the property of combining with the oxygen of the air when it is heated, but also that of giving back this oxygen as soon as the boiling-point is passed. The chemist put mercury in a glass retort whose neck was very long and bent over twice. The retort was placed upon an oven in such a way that the bent end of the neck opened into the top of the globe full of air, placed in a tube also full of mercury. ”

“ The metal Mercury is about thirteen and a half times heavier than water; consequently, if a column of water thirty feet high balances the pressure of the atmosphere, a column of mercury thirty inches high ought to do also—and this is in fact the case. If you take a glass tube nearly three feet long, and closed at one end, and fill it with mercury; then, placing your finger on the open end, invert the tube into a basin or saucer containing some of the same metal ”

“ Mercury is incapable of uniting with any earthy substances, not even with the metallic earths, when they are deprived of their Phlogiston, and consequently have not the metalline form.
Hence it follows, that when Mercury is triturated with particles of Gold, of earth, and of stone, mingled together, it unites with the Gold, and separates it from those heterogeneous matters. Yet, if there be along with the Gold any other metal, in its metalline form, except Iron, the Mercury will amalgamate with that also. ”

“ Mercury does not change in the air—that is to say, it does not oxidise at the ordinary temperature—but at a temperature approaching the boiling-point, as was stated in the Introduction, it oxidises, forming mercuric oxide. Both metallic mercury and its compounds in general produce salivation, trembling of the hands, and other unhealthy symptoms which are found in the workmen exposed to the influence of mercurial vapours or the dust of its compounds. ”

“ In the liquid state the adhesion of the mercury to the metallic body plunged into it and afterwards withdrawn, varies with the rapidity of the motion and with the purity of the mercury. Frequently—I may say always—the inversion takes place too soon or too late, and thus gives rise to an attraction or repulsion, in a contrary direction to the rotation. Moreover it is very difficult to preserve the mercury pure when in contact with other metals; and even the purest mercury is disposed to oxidize easily under the influence of the electric sparks. ”

“ If any suspicion of heterogeneity should arise, in regard to the solid metals, this difficulty may be easily obviated by employing a fluid metal, that is to say, mercury purified by chemical means.
3d. Contractions are excited when one of the armatures and the arc consist of mercury, by making the mercury to run down on the muscles placed below it. There is no reason here to suspect that the stimulus produced by the impulse of the mercury has any share in the phænomenon, as it is sufficiently proved by experiments that this is not the case. ”

“ In discussing the pharmacology of mercury and its compounds, it is of the first importance to observe that metallic mercury is inert as such, and that the same may practically be said of mercurous salts generally. Both mercury itself and mercurous salts tend to be converted in the body into mercuric salts, to which the action is due. When metallic mercury is triturated or exposed to air it is partly oxidized, the first stage of its transformation to an active condition being thus reached. ”

“ It has lately been suggested, that the mercury acts chemically only, and effects the full decomposition of the iodide of silver; and that the picture is due to this, and not to the deposition actually of the mercury vapour. In all probability we have the involved action of several forces. We have some experiments which show, clearly enough, that mercury is deposited in proportions which correspond with the intensity of solar action. ”

“ During the condensation of the vapours of mercury in works, a part forms a black mass of finely-divided particles, which gives metallic mercury when worked up in centrifugal machines, or on pressure, or on re-distillation. In mercury we observe a tendency to easily split up into the finest drops, which are difficult to unite into a dense mass. It is sufficient to shake up mercury with nitric and sulphuric acids in order to produce such a mercury powder. The mercury separated (for instance, reduced by substances like sulphurous anhydride) from solutions, forms such a powder. ”

“ Mercury has been employed in one or other of its forms in almost all diseases; but each of its numerous preparations is supposed to have some peculiarity of action of its own, combined with that common to all the compounds of this metal. The mercurials form, indeed, one of the most important classes of the materia medica.
Tests. 1. Metallic mercury is detected by its liquid condition and volatility; and, when in a finely divided or pulverulent state, by the microscope, or by staining a piece of copper white when the two are rubbed together. ”

“ The mercury does not wet the finger, and as the finger is lifted the mercury does not follow it.
The reason for this peculiarity of mercury is that the pull between the particles of mercury themselves is stronger than the pull between them and your finger or handkerchief. ”

“ Mercury occurs in nature chiefly as the sulphide (HgS) called cinnabar, and in globules of metal inclosed in the cinnabar. The mercury mines of Spain have long been famous, California being the next largest producer.
Metallurgy. Mercury is a volatile metal which has but little affinity for oxygen. Sulphur, on the other hand, readily combines with oxygen. These facts make the metallurgy of mercury very simple. The crushed ore, mixed with a small amount of carbon to reduce any oxide or sulphate that might be formed, is roasted in a current of air. ”

“ In looking around the closet where these pictures were exposed—where these plates were stored—he found that for some reason or other the bottle of mercury had been broken, and he tried almost every imaginable material in the closet, and at last it struck him it might be mercury. Well, he put some mercury on the plate and he ruined it. “Well, no,” he says, “it is not mercury but mercury in a very fine state. I wonder if it is the Vapor of Mercury?” He tried it and found that it was. That led to the development of the daguerreotype. ”

“ Mercury is even difficultly oxydated in free air. In chemical laboratories, this process is usually carried on in a matrass A, Pl. IV. Fig. having a very flat body, and a very long neck BC, which vessel is commonly called Boyle's bell. A quantity of mercury is introduced sufficient to cover the bottom, and it is placed in a sand-bath, which keeps up a constant heat approaching to that of boiling mercury. ”

“ The Volatility of Mercury argues that they are not much bigger, nor may they be much less, lest they lose their Opacity, and become either transparent as they do when attenuated by Vitrification, or by Solution in Menstruums, or black as they do when ground smaller, by rubbing Silver, or Tin, or Lead, upon other Substances to draw black Lines. The first and only Colour which white Metals take by grinding their Particles smaller, is black, and therefore their white ought to be that which borders upon the black Spot in the Center of the Rings of Colours, that is, the white of the first order. ”

“ Mercury ores are easily reduced to metallic mercury, because the combination between the metal and the sulphur is one of but little stability. Oxygen, iron, lime, and many other substances, when heated, easily destroy the combination. If iron is heated with cinnabar, iron sulphide is formed; if cinnabar is heated with lime, mercury and calcium sulphide and sulphate are formed, 4HgS + 4CaO = 4Hg + 3CaS + CaSO4. ”

“ Mercury oxide does not contain two simple bodies, a gas and a metal, but two elements, mercury and oxygen, which, when free, are a gas and a metal. Neither mercury as a metal nor oxygen as a gas is contained in mercury oxide ”

“ Tests for Mercury.—Mercury, in combination and in the solid form, is most readily detected by mixing the substance intimately with dry anhydrous sodic carbonate, transferring the mixture to a glass tube, sealed at one end, and applying heat. If mercury be present, a ring of minute globules condenses in the cool part of the tube. If the quantity of mercury is likely to be very minute, it is best to modify the process by using a subliming cell (p. 258) , and thus obtain the sublimate on a circle of thin glass in a convenient form for microscopical examination. ”

“ Almost silently, Buck Kendall led the way to the laboratory. A small metal tank was supported in a peculiar piece of apparatus, and from it led a small platinum pipe to a domed apparatus made largely of insulum. A little pool of mercury, with small red crystals floating in it rested in a shallow hollow surrounded by heavy conductors.
"That's it, Tom. I wanted to show you first what we have, and why I wanted all that mercury. Within three weeks, every man, woman and child in the system will be clamoring for mercury metal. That's the perfect accumulator." ”

“ Mercurous salts are generally insoluble, and may be converted into mercuric salts by prolonged boiling with oxidising agents (nitric acid or aqua regia) . The salts of mercury are volatile, and, if heated with a reducing agent or some body capable of fixing the acid, metallic mercury is given off, which may be condensed and collected.
Mercury is separated from its solutions by zinc or copper, or it may be thrown down by stannous chloride, which, when in excess, gives a grey powder of metallic mercury, or, if dilute, a white crystalline precipitate of mercurous chloride. ”

“ Being the heaviest of all fluids of which we have any knowledge, and not congealing in the temperature of our climate, it has been preferred, before all others, for barometers, as a measure of the weight of the atmosphere. And, as heat dilates mercury similarly to other fluids, it is likewise made into thermometers. Mercury is sometimes used in medicine in its pure metallic state. ”

“ Silver and mercury have a considerable affinity and are easily combined by putting lamina of silver into heated mercury and agitating the mixture. When 1 part silver and 2 mercury are mixed as above, a fluid mass is obtained which being heated to the temperature of boiling mercury, a little mercury evaporates and the remainder crystallizes into a soft white mass, which in time grows [Pg 232] hard and brittle. A higher heat than boiling mercury expels the mercury. Hence this amalgam may be used for giving a thin coating of silver to the surface of metals, like that of gold. ”

“ Verily I did very many years ago exceeding studiously apply my self to the search of such a spiritual and Gold and Silver attracting Magnet, but I could not hitherto attain to the true Scope, until I at length by chance found that a true living and running Mercury might, by the benefit of Art, without any Addition of Mercurial things, be extracted out of the fugacious and imperfect Metals, such as are Lead, Tin, Bizmuth, Zink, and Antimony. ”