Geo. What a clever way! I should like vastly to see it done.
Tut. You may see it any day at Birmingham, if you happen to be there; as well as a great many other curious operations on metals.
Geo. What a weight quicksilver is! I remember taking up a bottleful of it, and I had liked to have dropped it again, it was so much heavier than I expected.
Tut. Yes, it is one of the heaviest of the metals—about fifteen times as heavy as water.
Geo. Is not mercury a name for quicksilver? I have heard them talk of the mercury rising and falling in the weather-glass.
Tut. It is. You, perhaps, may have heard too of mercurial medicines, which are those made of quicksilver prepared in one manner or another.
Geo. What are they good for?
Tut. For a great variety of complaints. Your brother took some lately for the worms; and they are often given for breakings-out on the skin, and for sores and swellings. But they have one remarkable effect, when taken in a considerable quantity, which is to loosen the teeth, and cause a great spitting. This is called salivation.
Har. I used to think quicksilver was poison.
Tut. When it is in its common state of running quicksilver it generally does neither good nor harm; but it may be prepared, so as to be a very violent medicine, or even a poison.