[Publius6961]

It wasn't regular mercury, it was dimethyl mercury.
...
It was just a drop of liquid, just a tiny glistening drop. It glided over her glove like a jewel.

This hit piece article was crafted deliberately to promote the impression that it was metallic mercury that she was playing with.

The alternative, that the author was clueless about her subject, would be a remarkable alternative.

[yhwhsman]

This hit piece article was crafted deliberately to promote the impression that it was metallic mercury that she was playing with.

Exactly. Which is why they started out discussing the runoff from the mines.

What I don't understand is why we couldn't go in and extract the mercury from the slag heaps. Our extractin technology has to be much more advanced than in 1840. If it's 'gushing' out during every rainstorm, you would think a mining company would jump at the chance to recover what's remaining; they don't have to dig for it.