MERCURY, THE FRIEND OF MARS

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 100, 30 April 1938, Page 26

MERCURY, THE FRIEND OF MARS

Without mercury fulminate, the only ■ successful detonator for high ex--1 plosives, not a; gun could fire, says a writer in "Coronet." This organic compound of quicksilver ignites so > quickly that it must be retarded to , set off the explosive in the shell. Bought and hoarded as the war-makers' 1 best friend, < mercury is the indispen- •; sable material. Almaden, a Spanish mine which has - been supplying mercury for 2000 years, /' and Irdia, a mine in Southern Austria .„ now owned by the Italian Government, "provide 80 per cent... of the-world's mercury supply and 90 per-cent, of Europe's. Mercury may well be one of the reasons why Italy keeps her flager in the Spanish pie. -Were she to dominate it with a Fascist vanguard, .-.she would have a virtual 7 " Almaden contains the world's rich- " est deposits of cinnabar, which is crushed and- heated until it volatilises at "'360 degrees F.,. turns into vapour, ■ and is condensed to trickle out as pure mercury. Mercury as. a metal was known in 100 B.C. Salts of mercury were first produced in 900 A.D. Metallic mercury and common salt:—sodium; chloride • ;to the chemist—produce bichloride of ,- mercury when heated, the sterilisation >■ agent which' traces the histoty of

asceptic technique. Mercury chloride, or calomel, is today's most widely used stimulent. of the liver and gall-bladder. Phenyl mercuric nitrate is in your .prescription for athlete's foot. .Ammoniated mercuric chloride combats fungus infections. Blue ointment uses a mercury salt to check vermin. Neosalvarsan, a soluble salt of mercury, is iised in the treatment of syphilis. Mercurochrome disinfects scratches. More than 40 different compounds of mercury greet you in a drug store.

The future of mercury is .hard to predict. Italy, with limited gold re"serves and tremendous military expenditures, makes the most of it. Mercury is as good as gold bullion in today's markets, and the loyalists, hard pressed for war munitions, haven't the gold and haven't the credits, so they use mercury and it serves them all. The U.S.A. is the third producer of the world, with low-grade Pacific coast ores which can only be mined when the price is high. The Spanish loyalists and Fascists alike have been converting reserves of mercury into cash since January of this year, when the quicksilver cartel,, amounting to an agreement between the two, was wastebasketed. Because mercury counts as gold in the U.S. a large percentage of newly-released mercury has arrived at American ports.