The roly-poly silvery liquid metal we call Mercury or Quicksilver was named by alchemists after the swiftly orbiting planet Mercury, which in turn had been named for the Roman God Mercury for his traits of quickness and elusiveness. It’s also a stone cold killer. The only metal which is liquid at room temperature has been used by people for thousands of years but its’ inherent dangers have only been understood for a couple of hundred.
Found as part of the ore cinnabar, its’ reddish color was used to paint on pre-historic cave walls and has been found in Egyptian tombs. Throughout the centuries it has been employed for a number of medicinal (the Chinese really liked it) and cosmetic uses, even illumination. But the extraction of gold through amalgamation is the one which has become the most difficult to eradicate.
In Medieval times it was considered to be the oldest metal because of its’ odd properties and was a major component of the pseudo-science alchemy. The Alchemists, always on the lookout for ways to turn things into gold, believed it held the key. In the 18th and 19th centuries it was used in the making of hats. Absorbing Mercury through their skin the milliners started to act in a very peculiar manner. In turn giving rise to the phrase, mad as a hatter, and inspiring the Mad Hatter of Alice in Wonderland.
Its’ use as a medicine is another one of those bad medical ideas like bloodletting. As a treatment for Syphilis the cure was worse than the disease and often produced the same sort of symptoms as the disorder itself. This led to the fear it was getting worse and calling for further application. Often causing the patient to spiral out of control.
Probably the best known modern usage is the thermometer but this along with dental fillings, where it is mixed with silver, are rapidly being replaced with other entities as the awareness of Mercury’s toxicity is better understood. Its’ use in Fluorescent bulbs has not been supplanted (and is there anything more terrifying than breaking one at home when you have a crawling infant) but LED bulbs are quickly dropping in price and replacing them as a safer alternative. Although for certain laboratory applications Mercury is irreplaceable.
Mercury, enters the air through a variety of means both natural and manmade. Then it falls into the oceans being absorbed by algae which in turn is eaten by smaller fish who are eaten by bigger fish. This keeps happening until farther up the food chain we eat the fish and it’s passed back to us. Poetic justice perhaps but scary none the less. And of course the fish we like the best, the fatty ones like Tuna and Salmon, are the most susceptible.
Because of its’ intense toxicity the nations of the world are trying to curtail its’ introduction into the environment. But the most difficult part of this endeavor is convincing small scale gold miners. They use it to separate the gold (the Alchemists were almost right) from the other materials found in their pans. Mercury is employed because it easily bonds with the gold, separating it from the other elements present in the mix, this creates an amalgamation. Then they boil the Mercury away, which leaves only the gold; and this is when it enters the atmosphere.
The problem is, all of this is happening in remote jungles where the operations are hard to find and even harder to monitor. The other major factor is these miners are already struggling to feed their families. They would need to use a costlier substitute, a more labor intense one, or to give up (not going to happen) their lucrative undertaking. To change all of this is going to take a monumental effort by the world. It’s that or we will all become as mad as hatters.