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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Kentucky, post: 1294014, member: 33176&quot;]One of the dangers of being a chemist is telling chemical stories.&nbsp; The Mad As A Hatter connection has nothing to do with metallic mercury.&nbsp; In the 18th and 19th centuries, hats were made from felt, which is a mush of hairs that all stick together.&nbsp; One of the popular felts for making hats was rabbit fur, but it was too slick and the felt it made was weak.&nbsp; If the rabbit hair was soaked in mercuric nitrate, some of the hairs would split and this would cause them to tangle and make a strong felt.&nbsp; Imagine working in one of these places, you would go to a vat of rabbit hair and mercuric nitrate and pick up a large armload to take back to your working table.&nbsp; This is what is supposed to have caused the workers to go &quot;Mad As A Hatter&quot;.&nbsp; Metallic mercury is not particularly toxic unless it is well dispersed in air or on the skin.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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