Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/51

 M E R

M E R

to be got from lead or tin. See Mem. de I'Acad. Royal, des Scienc. 1734.

Mercury diffolved by rubbing it flrongly with any chemical oil, or with Venice turpentine, has been given to the quan- tity of a fcruple, halfadram, or two fcruples in a day. Such pills keep fome people's belly open, others they purge, and a gentle ptyalifm has fometimes been occafioned, nay, a high falivation has been raifed by them. See Medic. Eff. Edinb. Dr. Dover, in his Phyfician's Legacy to his country, having recommended crude Mercury or quickfilver as a moll: bene- ficial medicine for feveral dlfeafes, it had for fome time a great run at London, which occafioned the writing a great many pamphlets for and againft it. Dr. Cheyne alio greatly recom- mends this medicine in his treatife, entituled, The Rational Method of curing Difeafes.

The authors of the medical effays of Edinburgh allure us, that though fome they knew had taken an ounce or two of crude Mercury each morning for feveral weeks, yet they knew no inftance of its encreafing any of thefenfible evacuations ; but they have been told, that fome who ufed it thus, had patted fome of it with their urine, and that the hands of others, taking this medicine, had tinged their fnuff-boxes, &c. But we have an account of the effects of crude Mercury on a perfon who had the adviceof his phyhcian for the taking it, in a remarkable cafe recorded in the Philolbphical Trans- actions, about the time when Dr. Dover had brought it into fuch general ufe ; and as the effects of it, in this cafe, may ferve to caution people as to the ufe of it, it may be proper to give the fubftance of it, which is this : A perfon had long been Subject to great difficulty in going toftool, for which he- at length took feveral ounces of crude Mercury at different times, but without relief. Upon the opening of the abdo- men there iffiied out a great quantity of wind, before the fto- mach or guts were wounded. The ftomach was -empty, and its inner coat violently inflamed. The fmall guts were, in many places, fouled with a black powder rcfcmbling /Ethi- ops mineral, and in feveral parts of them were found fmall globules of quicklilver. The black powder was doubtlefs the quickfilver altered into a fort of aethiops in the body. The colon was inflamed and diftended, and contained fix quarts of liquid excrement, among which was a great deal of crude Mercury, and of the fame black powder. This gut alfo was inflamed on the outlide, and had formed an abfeeis where it adhered to the omentum ; the other guts in contact with this part alfo fhared this diforder. In the lower part of the colon the coats became fchirrous, and the pailage was very fmall. Some of the valves were alfo become fchirrous, and obftructed the paflage, and a fmall plumb-ftone was found buried in the villofe coat of this inteftine. This had alfo formed a fmall ahfeefs, which difcharged itfelf into the pelvis. What part of thefe fymptoms was owing to the taking the quickfil- ver is eafy feen, and fuch effects may be guarded againft for the future, by obferving the ftate of the patient before it is given. Philof. Tranf. N\ 442. p. 295. Chernifts having obferved that fome iimple preparations of antimony and Mercury had furprizing effects in the cure of obitinate' diltempers, employed their art to change thefe Herculean medicines into various fhapes, to feparate their noxious and ufelefs parts, and to combine their active prin- ciples. To thefe labours are owing the butter and cinnabar of antimony, Mercurius vita;, bezoard mineral, folar, lunar, jovial, and feveral other preparations, on which the mod: ex- orbitant encomiums have been lavifhed. But with all this care, many of thefe remained unactive, and others incorrigible, and unfit for ufe. However it is certain that thefe two mine- rals, properly combined, have wonderful effects. We have, in the medical effivys of Edinburgh, a preparation of Dr. Plum- pers, which is much recommended from the experience of itsefre&s. See Plummer'j Mthiops.

Mercury is often ufed in anatomical preparations, efpecially for fuch parts that do not eafily retain air, as the lungs, or fpleen, and glans penis. See Monro in Med. Eff. Edinb. vol. 3. art. 10. But it is to be obferved, that the quickfilver does confidcrable damage to the fmall cells of the lungs and glans.

Befide the numerous other phenomena attending this re- markable mineral, the light it gives when fhaken in a glafs tube, which proceeds from electricity, is not to be omitted. If Mercury be enclofed in a glafs tube, clofe flopped, that tube is found, on be'mg rubbed, to give greatly more light than when it had no Mercury in it. When this tube has been rubbed, after raifmg fucceflively its extremities, that the Mercury might flow from one end to the other, one fees a light creeping in a ferpentine manner all along the tube ; that is to fay, the Mercury is all luminous. The Mercury being made to run along the tube afterwards without rubbing it, was found to emit fome light, though much lefs than before ; this proves that the friction of the Mercury againft the glafs, in running along, does in fome meafure electrify the glafs, as the rubbing it with the hand does, only it is in a much lefs degree. This is more plainly proved by laying fome very light down near the tube, for this will be attracted by the electricity raifed by the running of the Mercury, and will rife to that part of the glafs along which the Mercury runs ; Suppl. Vol. II.

and it is very plain from this, that what has been long known in the world under the name of the phofphorus of the barome- ter, is not a phofphorus, but merely a light raifed by electri- city, the Mercury electrifying the tube. Phil. Tranf N°. 484.

If Mercury be put into large exhaufted tubes, and thefe after- wards rubbed to excite their electricity, it is obferved that they give, on all fides, rays of a very bright and very lively light.

Calcined Mercury, Mercurius Cak'matus, a new and more expreflive name for the preparation of Mercury, commonly called precipitate per fe. It is made by fetting purified quick- filver for feveral months in a faud heat, in a glafs vefiel with a broad bottom, and opening it to the air by a fmall hole, till it is reduced to a red powder.

1 he quickfilver mult have a communication with the exter- nal air, as is necellary to the calcining of all the metals. This opening is belt made, not as in the common bolt-heads, but at the lower end of a Item, going into the body of the glafs ; that if the quickfilver rife with the heat, it may not, by af- cending into the Item, be removed out of the heat that is to calcine it, Pemberto?i y s Lond. Difp. p. 225. -

Cora/fine Mercury, Mercurius Corallimts, the name given in the London Difpenfatory to a preparation of Mercury, commonly known by the name of arcanum corallinum. It ib prepared in this manner : Pour upon the red corrofive Mer- cury, ^commonly called red precipitate, thrice its weight of rectified fpirit of wine, digeft them together in a gentle heat for two or three days, often lhakinc the phial, then fet fire to the fpirit, and continue ftirring tfie powder till the fpirit is burnt away. Pemfarton's Lond. Difp. p. 227. This operation proceeds upon the principle of fpirit of wine dulcifying acid fbirits.

Oil ^/Mercury, the name given by the chemilts to a prepara- tion of Mercury in a fluid form, by means of a ftrong acid. The preparation is this : Calcine Mercury with oil of vitriol to a dry fnowy calx ; fuffer it to cool, then put it into a glafs 3 and pour upon it an equal quantity of oil of vitriol ; let this boil away almoft to a drynefs, carefully avoiding the poifon- ous fumes ; then increafe the fire, and by degrees reduce it to a drynefs again ; which is, in this ftate, a very difficult and tedious talk. When the powder is dry, put the fame quan- tity of oil of vitriol again to it, and proceed as before : At length it will fcarce dry by means of ever fc long or ftrong a fire, but only ccafe flowing freely, and become fomewbat rigid like a fixed oil. It is then highly iharp, cauftic, and not to be touched, like the ignis gehenna of Paracelfus. By this means the Mercury is fo fixed with the oil of vitriol, as not to be evaporated, or fly off, by the action of a very vio- lent fire. Boerh. Chem. p. 317.

By this procefs we fee the method of impregnating, Saturating, and incerating metals by acids to any degree, and alfo of fix- ing, in a great degree, volatile Mercury by them \ but no metal is hence to be expected, for in whatever manner Mer- cury is fixed with acids, it is always recoverable again in its prittine ftate, by grinding it with twice its weight of iron filings, and diftiiling in a glafs retort, with the greateft de- gree of a (and heat. Ibid. p. 320.

Corro/ive Subli?nate of Mercury. Mr. Boulduc defcribes an eafy manner of making corrofive fuhlimatc. He pours equal quantities of quickfilver and dephlegmated oil of vitriol into a retort, then draws off part of the acid, which does not incor- porate with the quickfilver ; the fire is continued till the white mafs of diflblved Mercury is dry, when he fpecdily mixes it with equal parts of dried fea fait, and fublimes it in the com- mon way.

Mercury, Mercurialis, in botany and medicine. See the article Mercurialis.

Mercurius Duk'ts. Mercurius Dukis in large dofes, with cinnabar of antimony, is recommended in nervous difeafes, palfy, hemiplegia, epilepfy, and apoplexy. Med. EfT. Edinb.

Mr. Dictericus gives us thefe rules for knowing whether fub- limate is fufficiently edulcorated in making Mercurius Dulcis. If after rubbing the Mercury on gold, the gold becomes only pale, and not white, the Mercury is dulcified enough ; or if fweet Mercury becomes black when mixed with lime-water, it is fit for ufe ; but if either the gold becomes white, or the Mercury is of a brown or yellow colour, after mixing with lime-water, it is not fufficiently dulcified. Commerc. No- rem. 1737. hebd. 29. §.2.

Mercurius Emeticus Flavus, a name given in the late Lon- don Difpenfatory to the mercurial preparation commonly known by the name of iurbith mineral, Pemberton's Lond. Difp. p. 228.

Mercurius Vita may, according to Mr. Boyle, be mode- rated in its evacuating quality, by continually ftirring it in a flat glazed earthen veffel, over a fire, till it emits no fumes, and turns of a grey colour ; and he thinks this is the Mercurius Vita purgans fo often mentioned by Riverius. Boyle, Works Abr. vol. 1. p. 74*

Mr. Godfrey obferves, that what is called Mercurius Vita, prepared of 1'ublimate mercury and antimony, has no Mer- cury in it, but is the reguline part of the antimony, with the acid of the fublimate ; and what remains is the Mercury M formed