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Exposure, Sources, and Intoxication

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Toxic Effects of Mercury

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Abstract

The use of mercury in manufacturing and medical purposes has been recorded since classical times in China, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Concomitantly, poisoning by this metal has also been reported since 2,000 years ago, such as in Pliny the Elder’s (23–79 AD) Naturae Historiarum Libri, which refers to cinnabar (HgS) poisoning among miners at Almaden, Spain (Rackham 1952). Mercury as a poison has been documented for many centuries.

The leperous distilment; whose effect

Holds such an enmity with blood of man

That swift as quicksilver it courses through

The natural gates and alleys of the body,

And with a sudden vigor it doth posset

And curd, like eager droppings into milk,

The thin and wholesome blood: so did it mine;

(W. Shakespeare: Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Act I, Scene 5 (1600))

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  1. Interdisciplinary Brain Research Centre (IBRC) Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, UP, India

    Shabnum Nabi

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Nabi, S. (2014). Exposure, Sources, and Intoxication. In: Toxic Effects of Mercury. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-1922-4_7

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