From Roman palace to Egyptian pyramids, from Chinese gardens to Mayan tombs, mercury was used everywhere as a royal decoration. In historyīut as early as 750 B.C., a time when mercury was discovered, the rich and the famous quickly got attracted to this unusual shiny silver-like liquid metal. From fairness lotion to rejuvenating potion, from antiseptic balm to dental amalgam, from thermometer to sphygmomanometer (BP apparatus), mercury occupied a significant space in the doctor’s bag and medical textbooks. The ‘medical-man’, in contrast, fell in love with a shiny, fluid metal called mercury. The glint of gold jewellery identified rich, beautiful women, the sheen of a silver sword defined the strength of strong men. The axe evolved into the chain saw, the sling-shot to the AK47. that man started using metal to carve out implements catapulting the evolution of complex tools faster than we could imagine. Despite stone tools being in existence for 2.5 million years, it was only around 9000 B.C.
Forty years later today we know that mercurochrome (mercury organohalide), has no antiseptic effect, and that the mercury in it is actually toxic.Ĭhemistry text books clearly state that metals form strong bonds with oxides, chlorides and sulphides but do not mention a far stronger bond the one with humans. We flaunted it, our parents hated it but neither party ever doubted its efficacy. The colour refused to fade from our uniform for weeks despite repeated washes. At the slightest doubt of a bruise, we would rush to our school infirmary for a dash of a bright red liquid called ‘mercurochrome’.
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