Quicksilver
Argentum vivum, hydrargyrum; mercury
- Known today as
- Elemental mercury, and its salts such as calomel and corrosive sublimate.
- Kind
- Mineral, in 2 older authorities
- Constituents
- mercury
- Poisoning
- Mercury, arsenic, lead, and antimony
- Earliest authority here
- The alchemists
- Qualities
- Cold and moist (Galenic tradition). What the degrees mean
- In other databases
- Wikidata search
Caution. Poisonous, especially as vapor.
Quicksilver: what does modern science say?
A cumulative poison of the nerves and kidneys; its vapor is the most dangerous form.
Quicksilver: is it poisonous?
Yes, in some form or dose. Poisonous, especially as vapor. Its poisoning is mercury, arsenic, lead, and antimony: Minutes to hours for a large dose; months or years for the slow poisoning of the trades. Historical description, not medical advice; in a poisoning, call a poison centre.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- mercurythe metal
- Mechanism
- The metal is barely absorbed from the gut; its vapour is, and in the brain it binds the sulphur of proteins.
- Toxic dose
- Swallowed metal usually passes; the vapour of a heated gram is dangerous.
- Syndrome
- Mercury, arsenic, lead, and antimony
- Standing
- Phased out of thermometers and phased down in dentistry under the Minamata Convention (2013).
- Clarkson, T. W., and Magos, L. (2006). “The toxicology of mercury and its chemical compounds.” Critical Reviews in Toxicology 36. Verified against its record · doi:10.1080/10408440600845619
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
What Medicine Makes of It
- A Night with VenusThe French disease, the holy wood, and the mercury cure.
Quicksilver: what lore surrounds it?
The shape-changing metal of Hermes, patron of the art; see Alchemy.
Mercury left its mark on ordinary speech. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century hatters cured felt with mercury compounds, and long exposure gave many of them tremors, slurred speech, and hallucinations, so common among the hatmakers of Danbury, Connecticut, that it was called the “Danbury shakes,” and the likeliest source of the phrase “mad as a hatter.”
Quicksilver: what did the older authorities say?
- The alchemists
- Mercury was the principle of fluidity, and with sulfur the parent of all metals; for Paracelsus, one of the three principles with sulfur and salt.
- Paracelsus
- Championed mercury against the new French disease, syphilis, which it was used to treat until the twentieth century: “a night with Venus, a lifetime with Mercury.”
Sources
- Paracelsus, writings on the French disease. Book, not indexed
- Pliny, Natural History XXXIII. Primary text
- Wikipedia, “Mad as a hatter.” Book, not indexed
In Symbols of the Psyche
Mercury: what it stood for in alchemy and in analytical psychology.
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the fifty-entry sample
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Sources
- 4 cited: 1 verified against its record, 1 primary text, 2 book, not indexed.
- Corrections
- the Minamata Convention phases dental amalgam down, not out.
- Almadén mined until 2002, not later.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026
- Chicago
“Quicksilver.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified September 25, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/quicksilver.
- MLA
“Quicksilver.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 25 Sept. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/quicksilver. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Quicksilver. (2026, September 25). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/quicksilver
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See Also
Poisoned alike: mercury, arsenic, lead, and antimony
Verdigris · Passarino’s white powder · Vitriol · Orpiment and realgar · White arsenic · Litharge · White lead · James’s powder · the syndrome, with all of them →
Also in Paracelsus
Salt in Paracelsus · Opium poppy in Paracelsus · St. John’s wort in Paracelsus · Weapon-salve in Paracelsus · everything Paracelsus names →
Drawing on the same sources: Pliny, Wikipedia
Rocket · Pennyroyal · Silphium · Rose · Pearls, prepared · the bibliography →
Of the same qualities: cold and moist
Saffron milk cap · Purslane · Truffle · Houseleek · Violet, lettuce, sow-thistle · Caesar’s mushroom · what the degrees mean →
Nearby in the alphabet
Quince (Cydonia oblonga) · Radish (Raphanus sativus (now classed by Kew as Raphanus raphanistrum subsp) · Puffball (White balls that ripen into a cloud of brown spores) · Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris (syn) · The prologue of John · Raisins (Dried grapes) · The precious stones (emerald, jacinth, garnet, and topaz, as they were used in medicine)
Historical description, not medical advice.