50 REMARKS ON SOME OF THE MERCURIAL COMPOUNDS. 
that the mercury acts by virtue of some exclusive power, or 
that it can form a soluble salt in the stomach in its metallic 
state, but when we consider the oxide of mercury as the ac- 
tive agent, then we may readily account for its activity, as 
we can understand that a chloride or acetate of mercury has 
been formed from the acids to which we alluded, and a cor- 
responding effect produced. 
But it is said by some, (United States Dispensatory, for 
example,) that the action is attributable "solely to the mecha- 
nical division of the metal which in this state is supposed to 
be capable of acting on the system." If, then, these effects 
are produced by it in a minute state of division, why is it that 
in cases where from its weight it has been administered in 
large doses these effects are not increased? Were it a solid 
substance, such a supposition might have some weight, as, of 
course, the more minutely divided the more easily would ac- 
tion be induced; but mercury being a fluid, and its particles 
easily separated, this supposition is rendered out of the ques- 
tion, and hence it is found necessary to have resort to another 
mode of explaining it, by supposing, as Mr. Phillips has 
done, that the mercury exists in the form of a suboxide; but 
let the existence of a suboxide of mercury be first proved 
before its supposed action be used in theories. 
As to the idea of the action of metallic mercury on the sys- 
tem, it is contradicted by the knowledge of the properties of 
all the rest of the metals, as however active or even poison- 
ous their compounds may be, they themselves are entirely 
inert, as instances of which gold, silver, antimony, arsenic and 
others may be adduced. As to the idea of mercury in a mi- 
nute state of subdivision, possessing this action of which so 
much has been written, it is not entitled to the slightest cre- 
dence. In cases of persons where large quantities are given 
to act by its weight, there would be intense action and pro- 
fuse ptyalism produced if possessed of any property of this 
kind, whereas, we find the only inconvenience to which the 
patient is subjected is the weight consequent on its use. It is 
also known that in the extraction of this metal from its mines, 
