corrosive sublimate. It likewise unites with cyanogen. Mercury also unites in the state of protoxide and peroxide with the acids. Several compound salts are known to the chemist, but few occur in commerce or the arts.
Among the compounds resulting from the action of this metal with other substances, those which require notice in a toxicological treatise are the following:—1. The binoxide or red precipitate; 2. The bisulphuret or vermilion; 3. The protochloride or calomel; 4. The bichloride or corrosive sublimate; 5. The sulphate or Turbith mineral; 6. The bicyanide or prussiate of mercury; and 7. The nitrates of mercury. Its other compounds are of little consequence to the toxicologist. 1. Of Red Precipitate.
Red precipitate, when well prepared, is in the form of fine powder or small, brilliant, heavy scales of a scarlet or orange colour. It consists of 101 mercury and 8 oxygen. It is insoluble in water.
It is easily distinguished from all other substances by the action of heat. If a little of it is heated in a small glass tube, it becomes dark brown, and on cooling recovers its original colour. But if the heat be raised higher, metallic globules are sublimed, and oxygen gas is disengaged. The escape of oxygen may be ascertained by plunging to the bottom a small bit of burning wood, when the combustion will be observed to be enlivened.
2. Of Cinnabar.
Cinnabar or vermilion, the bisulphuret of mercury, usually exists in the arts in the form of a fine, heavy, red powder, of a peculiar tint, which is termed from this substance vermilion-red. In mass its structure is coarsely-fibrous, and its colour reddish-brown; and it has some lustre. When thrown down from a solution of corrosive sublimate by sulphuretted-hydrogen, or the alkaline hydrosulphates, it forms a black powder, which acquires a red tint by being sublimed. It is composed of 101 metal and 16 sulphur.
It is distinguished from other substances by the operation of heat, and by the effects of reduction with iron filings. Heated alone in a tube it sublimes without change. Its colour, indeed, which is fugacious under heat unless particular manipulations are used, becomes darker and dingy; but its lustre and crystalline texture are retained. Heated with iron filings in a tube, it gives off globules of mercury; and the existence of sulphuret of iron in what remains may be proved by the escape of sulphuretted-hydrogen on the addition of diluted sulphuric acid.
3. Of Turbith Mineral.
The Turbith mineral, or subsulphate of the binoxide of mercury, exists in the form of a bright lemon-yellow, heavy powder. It is soluble in 2000 parts of water, and has an acrid taste.
