I think the powers-that-be go overboard about mercury nowadays, but many also UNDERRATE its toxicity.

When I first started working for the Forest Service in Idaho I went with my boss to visit a very small gold mining operation on the National Forest. One of the older miners was walking around with a cane and would occasionally lose his balance and had to catch himself. He also talked about half nuts. When we got back in our pickup and started driving back to the office my boss said, "You know why that guy loses his balance and acts so nutty don't you?" I admitted I didn't. He went on to tell me that the reason the guy was having so many problems was because he had been using mercury to retrieve small amounts of gold in his pan, then retorting the mercury/gold mix to separate the metals in a potato (small miners have done this for ages). My boss said that breathing the fumes from using potato retorts will give a person mercury poisoning over time. The loss of balance and acting nutty are symptoms of mercury poisoning.

That is where the term "Mad as a Hatter" came from. They used to use mercury in the hat-making industry, and mercury poisoning made the Hatters act crazy.

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SWCA 2379