Google the words “Karen Wetterhahn mercury” to find out how dangerous methyl mercury is.
Dr. Wetterhahn had been using mercury compounds her whole career (her research specialty was toxic metals poisoning). She dripped a tiny droplet of Hg(CH3)2 on her glove. The original story said she was wearing two pairs of gloves (although the Wikipedia article mentions only “her latex gloved hand” which seems to be a walk-back from the double-gloved story).
In any event, the methyl mercury penetrated the glove, penetrated her skin, and killed her after a six-month latency period. She was excreting more than four times the toxic concentration of Hg in her urine six months after the exposure incident.
I wonder why she wasn’t using a glove box - big thick gloves and proper venting.
My father was twice poisoned by mercuric chloride in a lab - contributed to mental illness that led to his death.