The liquid metal mercury

has got a sordid history.

In Georgian times they put it in

their tonics as a medicine.

 

But since it’s toxic to nerve cells

it causes nasty dizzy spells

loss of sight and hearing ills.

Too much and then this poison kills!

 

Its common name is quicksilver.

A shining river, moving mirror

found in old thermometers

tooth-fillings and barometers.

 

But back in Eighteenth Century

the rich and poor thought mercury

would have a magic healing trick.

Instead it made them very sick!