Volume 59 Issue 2 F E B RU AR Y 20 10
www.wgmsks.org
Cinnabar
Cinnabar is mercury sulfide. Nearly all the mercury in the world is obtained from Cinnabar. It can be found in massive or granular aggregates, occasionally forming crystals. It is generally found in veins near recent volcanic rock and is associated with gold, pyrite, marcasite, calcite, barite, fluorite, gypsum, opal or quartz. It is sometimes formed as a deposit from hot springs. Cinnabar crystals have been mined for at least 2,000 years at Almaden in Spain. Cinnabar is found in many locations around the world including Hungary, Bolivia, Serbia, Austria and China. In the US it is found in California, Texas, Nevada, Oregon and Utah. The name is derived from the Persian zinjirgrah, and Arabic zinjafr which mean dragon's blood. Powdered cinnabar has been used as the pigment vermillion since ancient times and was prized by the Olmecs of Ancient Mexico. Cinnabar was used as a decorative element in Mayan royal burial chambers. Its most popular known use, however, was in Chinese lacquer ware, a technique which originated in the Song Dynasty.
Quarry quips
Prior to the realization that mercury is toxic it was used medicinally ~ as a drug of immortality. Recommended by the Swiss physician Paracelsus, who lived from 4493 to 1541 it was both rubbed on the skin and taken internally. It was widely used in Europe, China and India. It has been used for over 2000 years as a sedative in combination with traditional Chinese medicine. Liquid mercury, or quicksilver, is produced by roasting crushed cinnabar in rotary furnaces. The pure mercury separates from sulfur in this process and evaporates. A condensing column is used to collect the liquid metal. Liquid mercury is sometimes found naturally (in small amounts) in cinnabar deposits In more recent times mercury has been used in the mining industry to dissolve metals and form compounds called amalgams. In the refining process the amalgam is boiled away to recover the metal it dissolved. This process was used in the 19th and early 20th century in gold mining. It is responsible for much of the mercury poisoning in old mining areas. Mercury is a neurotoxin that causes nervousness, trembling, personality changes and in extreme cases, dementia. The term mercurial, meaning rapid, extreme mood changes, may have come from observing people with mercury poisoning.

下一页