An inquiry into the action of mercury on the living body / [Joseph Swan].

  • Swan, Joseph, 1791-1874
Date:
1823
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inquiry into the action of mercury on the living body / [Joseph Swan]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Mr. John Hunter thought * that mercury was in state of solution in the juices of the body, and he tried to ascertain whether this opinion was just; and therefore he says, “ I made the following experiments upon myself. I put some crude mercury into my mouth, as a standard, and let it stay there working it about so as to render it easier of solution, till I tasted it sensibly : I then put into my mouth the mercurius calcinatus, and let it remain till I perceived the taste of it, which was exactly the same ; but I observed that it was easier of solution than the crude mercury. I tried calomel in the same way, and also corrosive subli¬ mate after being diluted with water, and the taste was still the same. It was some time before I perceived the taste of crude mercury in my mouth. I tasted the calx and calomel much sooner. The corrosive sublimate had at first a mixed taste, but when the acid was diluted, it had exactly the same taste with the former: all these different preparations producing the same sensation or taste in the mouth. Treatise on the Venereal Disease, p. 363.