In article , Rich Webb wrote:
Arfa Daily wrote:

Also as a kid, I had a small pot of mercury that I had 'rescued' from a
mercury tilt switch - rather a large one - that was on some lump of junk
found on a piece of wasteland where I used to play ... Boy, do you remember
the thrill of finding some piece of mysterious 'treasure' like this on those
endless summer days ... ?

Anyway, I used to play with the stuff in my hands for hours, so it can't
have been *that* readily poisonous.

Once upon a time there used to be cheap toys that had blobs of mercury
as the "active agent." Think of a 4"/10cm square plastic maze with a
clear plastic cover; race your friends to get the mercury blob to the
center in the fastest time!

And of course, one *had* to take the mercury out to play with it. I
still recall that distinctive smell of a pool of elemental mercury.

I don't recall a smell. I once was in a storage room with shelves and a bunch of old
medical research equipment. One of the pressure measuring devices, with plenty of mercury,
fell. Of course it was all glass. Mercury all over the place. I just was happy I didn't
have to clean it. I'm talking a LOT of mercury. I used to take those mercury batteries
apart when i was a kid, and roll the mercury around with my fingers to coat a penny.

greg