Glee Club

When I was young, mercurochrome was what my mother would use on small cuts and scrapes. It came in a small glass bottle with a glass rod applicator. It didn't hurt but it stained your skin pinkish red. Today, you won't find mercurochrome in anyone's medicine cabinet because it was taken off the shelves in the 1980's. The reason? Its main active ingredient is mercury. Yes, all my cuts and scrapes for my entire childhood were treated with mercury.

Mercury was also fun in science class. It was fun to watch it roll around in the palm of your hand. Liquid metal! Fun!

Mercury was also the substance inside glass thermometers. It was necessary to hold the thermometer under your tongue for as long as it took for it to reach its final reading (determined when the mercury stopped rising). When these thermometers broke (not often), there was more mercury to play with!