The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
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better take her home, and give her some good advice.' (Corn.
plainant stared.) (To the prisoner.) Don't you trouble him •
do you .hear, go and enroll yourself in the society to which h;s.,
belOngs." The prisoner bobbed s cartsy,and walked out of
the dock, whilst the complainant, with becoMing deliberation,.
'and a look betokening no little ,urprise, that a man of his
cons.luence should be so uncereinoniousty treated, walked out
of court.•

A POPULAR COURSE OV CHEMISTRY, AT THE
MECHANICS' INS FITU rioN.

. LECTURE X,S•
On Wednesday evening Mr. Hemming proceeded.
The next metal for our consideration is the. valuable and use-
ful metal mercury. Mercury, like the previous metals,appears
to have been known at a very early per Nil of time, and, like
gold and silver, it i 4 found frequently in a.rhitive state of puritV.
Like those two metals, it has been found all parts of the
,world. -.Great quantities exist in China, in :Hungary, Spain,
and South America. We have very valuable ,mines at Idria,•
Whieh until very lately produced Rio tons per annum. The
-mines of Almaden, in Spatn, have been mach mote productive.
These mines have been worked for a long time ;.fors Pliny tells
us that all the- vermillion' used in Route was procured from
Spain. Soon after the period when gold was disc,\vered in
-South America.-there were 1,200 tons of liquid therciary'rernain.:
tug in the -magazines of Almaden .after they had:.expred a
large quantity for the purposes of rednciug the gold, and Over
' ores. We have no mercury in' England; but it is sa d'that'
small quantities of it have been found in Cornwall and Se's t-
land:- It is most abundant in nature as Cinnabar -ote, in
South America native mercury is found very abundantly. , In',
some cases it is found in the fissures of rocks, and in others it
percolates through the rocks.-and is procured by placing vessels
underneath to receive it. • When we meet with the ore in Com-'

bination with sulphur, the following process of reduction is,
resorted tn.—The ore is first reduced to powder, and then mixed
with'one quarter its weight of slacked lime. This mixture is
heated iu a retort: those of Almaden are made to contain 80
ponnds, the beaks of Which are immersed in refrigerators for
the purpose of condensing the mercury as it conies over in the
vaporous state. The rationale of the process is. very simple.
The sulphur at a high heat leaves the mercury and combines
with the lime. In some cases iron is used; but lime is much
cheaper, and is generally preferred. But in each the same
rationale obtains. The mercury, being left in its native state,
is distilled over and condensed by abstraction of heat. Mer-'
cury thus obtained is a remarkable metal differing from others.
It is a perfect fluid of within 700°; it boils at 660°, and freezes
at 46° below the zero of Fahrenheit's scale. Mercury is some-
times frozen by the natural temperature of the atmosphere.
This occurs in high northern and southern latitudes." It has fre-
quently been frozen in Hudson's Bay. when it has been beaten on
an anvil until it has been as thin as a sheet of paper. It is not
a ductile metal; it haS so little tenacity that if cannot be draWn
into wire. When snov is on the ground, it is by no means
difficult to freeze mercury. It is, first reduced to zero by mix-
ing snow and salt together, and immersing the mercury in the
mixture. r We then have to reduce it 40° lower, and this we do
by means of other freezing mixtures The materials of Which •
:the freezing mixture is made must likewise be Similarly re-
duced to zero before mixture. • In this way. large quantities
have been, frozen.' Messrs. Allen and Pepyt, of London, dor-,
.inoorosevere Hinter, froze no less than 56 'pounds of merc try.
While in this state, a person was desirous of touching the ine'-
tallic mercury; but he was quickly compelled to withdraw . h's=
hand, as it communicated a feeling similar to that of iron at a
white heat. Sir J. Ross states, that dire touched mercury, or any
,other metal at the same temperature, it communicated a sensa-
tion similar to burning, and the skin stuck to the metal. It would,
therefore, e em that the sudden deprivation of large quart ties
of calerie from the hand produces the same feeling as the tic -5,-
sioti of caloric in large quantities'. While it has been frozen in
Hudson'S Bay, a piece of it was thrown into hot water, but
that instant it deprived the hot water of so much heat to liquify
it, that the water became frozen. and the glaSs was broken by
the expansion of the water. When mercury is exp ised-to tre
atmosphere its cotour becotnea tarnished, probably by•combiu-
ing with the sulphuretted hydrogen, It is a heavy metal, being
131 times heavier thin water. A pint of mercury will weigh
nattily as notch as a gallon of water:* Frozen mercury is
.heavier than liquid inercura, in this it oiffers frourfrezen water,
which being lighter than liquid water very fortunately floats
upon it. Mercury evaporates spontaneously at all ordinary
temperatures above 320. '['his has been proved by a very deli-
cate experiment • Dr. Faraday covered the inner sutface of a
stopper with a leaf of gold, i.nd placed it in the neck of a
mercury bottle, and he found it coated with mercury, at alt
tempetatures above 32, but not at that temperature 9r under.
Mercury evaporates at high temperatures with •very great' ra-
pidity, in consequence. of Which the mercury mines are very
destructive to the health of the miners. In. South America
there is a large mercury mine, called Guanea Velica, one of the
largest mines in the world, being 480 fathoms•deep, and 170 in
circumference. In this mine there are streets and squares, and
even a church, where divine service is performed on Sunday's,
and saint days. The miners are all slaves, and to prevent thin
escaping, they are badly clothed. The temperature of the
mines is high, and the vapour of mercury entering the lungs
of the miners, salivates' them, and shortens their life. The
employment of water gilillno,, as it was formerly conducted, was
considered very unwholesome, and few workmen could be found
to work in it. 'lt is usual to immerse the article to be gilt its a
solution of nitrate of mercury; this will cover the metal with a
coating of mercury. The article is then slightly brushed over
with an amalgam Hof gold and mercury, and subjected almost to
a red heat, and then we have a superficial coating of gold upon
the metal. Formerly this operation was carried on at an open
fire, and the vapour came into the apartment. The mode now
adopted is to heat the article in a stove provided with a mica or
talc window, so that the workmen can-watch the process. The
old mode was found exceedingly injurious to the workmen; so
much so that many marvellous stories are told of its effects.
Boyle found metallic mercury in the head of one of these
workmen six months after he had worked as a water gilder. In
the Philosophical Transactions of 1665, it was stated that the
body of a workman Was so impregnated with the metal, at a
long period after he had left the business, that if he touched a
piece of copper it would be amalgamated, and if the copper
was pot into. his Mouth it Would be coated with mercury.: This
effect is experienced by thrse who take large quantities of mer-
curial medicine, as the vapour will pass through the body in
large quantities, and coat all the gold it touches with mercury.
Although not subject to oxidation by exposure to the atmos-
phere, it absorbs moisture from the atmosphere ; on this ac-
count, therefore, in tare manufacture' of delicate philosiophical
in'strunients, it becomes necesiary, even if we may not require
a vacuum above the thermutneter, to boil the mercury to' ex-
pel the. .vatiour. A few years ago mercury' was sold at a
..moderate price,-about 2s: 6d. per pound' wholesale. it is now..
4s. per 'pound. The reason • of this is that all the mercury`
brought to England is purchased* by one house its Lerie`-'1
don, who, by this monopoly, are enabled to -charge whit'
•
they like for it. It is, however, diffieult to obtain pure Mee-
cury, as it is alloyed with lead and bisinnth. It is a Singular
property of mercury; that if we amalgamate it with bismuth we
may add one quarter hs weight of lead to it without rendering
it less fluid, and if we squeeze it thus alleyed in a piece of cha-
inoy leather, the lead and bismuth Will pass through the leather
es well as the a-tett:my. If we attempt to distil the mixture,
part of the baser meters will evaporate in the same Manlier with*
the mercury. In order then to purify the mercury we had bet-
ter heat it with sulphur. and then refine it bs-the same process
described for reducing the ore. We may test whether there be
any bismuth present bydissolving the mercury in nitric acid,'
when, if a little of the nitrate be dropped into water a white
precipitate will indicate the presence of bismuth. This precis'
plate is called the oxide of bismuth, and is sold in enormous
quantities under the deninnination of pearl powder. Lemery,
who introduced this cosmetic into Paris, made a rapid fortune
by its sale. There is one little inconvenience attending its use,
and that is, that if a lady who uses it approaches too close to any
mineral waters as those of Harrogate, which contain sulphu-
retted hydrogen, the pearl powder will itutriediately become
black. A little weak acid will, however, remove it.
We have two oxides of mercury. two sulnhurets. of irnercurv,
.
and two chlorides of mercury. The combinations of mercury
are all very important. The tirst oxide We will consider is the.
peroxide of mercury, a compound of 200 parts of mercury, and'
16 parts, by ,weight, of oxygen. This is made by expos-
ing mercury in shallow vessels with a broad bottom to the heat
of a sand-bath, and at the end of several weeks we find a
simple film of oxide of mercury. We most
.have a very long,'
narrow tube to place in this vessel to prevent the evaporation
of the mercury. This substance is, however, very interesting
to the cheMist as being the material from which Dr. Priestley
first obtained oxygen gas. , lie filled a .flaslo.full of liquid mer-
cury and a little of this peroxide, when by heating, it, with the
sun's rays through a lens, thearxygen gas Was separated from
the Metal by the heat, whilst • the metal united with the liquid
mercury. He instantly examined the air he had then Obtained.
and introduced a taper into it, and found. that the taner burnt
-very much better than in the atmosphere. He next immersed
a (ionise in some, and found that it lived a much luno,er time
than it would in the same quantity of atmospheric air. This d.sco-
yery of its property of supporting life induced Priestley to make
'use of thataingular expression which proved the priority of his
claim to the discovery of the gas which was disputed by Laviii-
sier; Priestley had said that he had found an air which if he
could breathe alone earth would be a heaven to him, and that
only two living beings besides himself had inspired it, which
'were two mice. There are various inethods:of obtaining this
peroxide; we dissolve mercury its nitre acid, and evaporwe to
dryness, and applying heat for a long time, but, not a red' heat,
until all the water of crystalization is driven.off. and we haVe
nothing but a peroxide left. Another is to precipitate the solu-
tion of mercury in nitric acid by means of an alkali; and by
heating it to drive off its water, this will give us peroxide of
mercury in the shape of a red powder which is very useful in the
preparation of oxygen gas. In the state of commerce a quail-
tits of red lead is mixed with.it. we can easily detect by
ti heang a portion of it, whets the mercury will be dissipated.,
and the lead, if any. left behind as a yellow-,oxide. l'he most
whimsical method of making the protoxide of mercury, which.
like the peroxide, can be made by a variety of processes, was
adopted by a chemist on the continent. lie placed a quantits
of mercury in a bottle, and tied it to the sail *of 4 windmill, by
which means every portion of the mercury being brought ra-
pidly into connexion with the atmosphere, he had a small quan-
tity of black or protoxide of mercury formed. We may make
it by triturating mercury with any substanee 'which 'will divide,
it, and cause it to present a number of surfaces to the atmos-
phere. The black oxide is the base of the famous. blue pill, and
of various other useful medicinal compoundio The blue 0.1 is
made by triturating fluid mercury with conserve of roses and li-
quorice powder. We make these oxides by another mode ; by
treating bichloride of mercnry, with caustic potash we obtain
peroxide of mercury, whereas if we take the pristochloride ut
mercury we make the protoxicle. These are not, however, to be
recommended, lint are merely interesting methods of producing
the oxides. The red, or peroxide of mercury is used in
' medicine, but it is of a poisonous nature. Mercury was in-
troduced as a medicine by Paracelsus, and it is asserted that be
performed many miraculous cures by its means. This Pura-
pudent boaster. In of his essays, he
celsta was a most impudent
says that " he has inure experience in his beard than was con,
tained in all the universities in the world." As he was upon
this subject, Mr. Hemming alluded to another eccentric iudi-
vidual, Basil Valentine, who discovered, by chance, the re-
markable power of the metallic antimony. lie was operating
upon some antimony, in pursuit of the philosopher's stone, and
threw some into the hogs' trough. Tbe swine thrived upon the
food. Seeing that it was beneficial to them, and produced a
medicinal effect, Valentine thought that it would prove equally
beneficial to the monks of his monastery. He administered it
to them, but it killed the greater part of them. On this aio
count the metal was called anti ?twine, antimony, a name.which
it bears to this day. Basil commences his discourses in some-
what similar language to that of Paracelsus, by telling the
world that all shall follow him, &c. Now, with respect to the
chlorides of mercury, one of them is of very great importanee in
medicine, forming calomel. It is called by physicians, subtnu-
Hate of mercury, but it is a chloride. The per-chloride and it
are toads in the first instance front sulphuret of mercury and
cotnnaori salt. We. may make calomel by . Scheele's process,
hut it does not seem to be so much approved of as the common
process by mixing nitrate of mercury with common eel,. It is
usually made by boiling, first of all, two pounds of mercury and
thirty ounces of concentrated 'sulphuric acid. The rationale
is simple. The sulphuric acid combines with the soda of the
collusion salt and converts it into sulphate of soda, and the
chlorine unites with the mercury. In order to make the cor-
rosive sublimate, the common salt, mercury, and sulphuric,
acid are mingled in different proportions. in manufacturing'