314 MERCURY. 



Quccksilber hornerz, JVerncr ; Mercure muriate, Hauy ; Pyra- 

 midal Corneous Mercury, Jameson. — Its colours are pearl-grey or 

 yellowish and greenish grey. It occurs very rarely massive, almost 

 always in small vesicles crystalized in the interior. It is trans- 

 lucent, with a lustre between adamantine and vitreous. It is 

 sectile and easily frangible. Before the blow-pipe it is entirely 

 volatalized, and is said to emit a garlic smell. It is soluble in 

 water, and the solution, mixed with lime-water, gives an orange- 

 coloured precipitate. It contains, oxide of mercury 76, muriatic 

 acid 16*4, sulphuric acid 7*16. Klaproth. It is found in the 

 quicksilver mines of the Palatinate, and other places on the 

 Continent. 



Mercury exists in nature in very small quantities in the metallic 

 state. The most productive source of the metal is the sulphuret, 

 or the species commonly called Cinnabar. It is generally obtained 

 by exposing the ore to heat in a retort, along with lime or iron, 

 either of which combines with the sulphur, and the mercury is 

 separated by distillation. In Germany, the cinnabar, after being 

 sorted, is reduced to powder, it is then mixed with about one- 

 fourth of quick -lime, and put into iron retorts, each of which holds 

 about one half cwt. From forty to fifty of these retorts are placed 

 in a long furnace, and glass receivers adapted to each. Heat 

 is applied to the retorts, by which watery vapour is at first 

 expelled : the receivers are then luted by means of well-tempered 

 clay, and the mercury which comes over is condensed in them. 

 By this process 100 pounds of ore yield from 6 to 10 ounces of 

 mercury. 



Fluidity at the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere, toge- 

 ther with its splendent metallic lustre, and great specific gravity 

 distinguish mercury from all metallic minerals. When cooled 

 to 39° below of Fahrenheit's thermometer — a degree of cold 

 which sometimes occurs naturally in very high polar latitudes, 

 it becomes solid. It can also be congealed by artificial freezing 

 mixtures, and the evaporation of sulphuret of carbon in the 

 vacuum of an air-pump. In this state it is malleable, and may be 

 cut with a knife. It is perfectly opaque, inodorous, and insipid, 

 of a white colour, but rather bluer than that of silver. Its spe- 



