# If I Were To Drink A Glass Of Mercury, Would It Squirt Out Of My Anus? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 26, 2005, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-drink-a-glass-of-mercury-would-it-squirt-out-of-my-anus/305608 "2005-05-26T14:54:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-drink-a-glass-of-mercury-would-it-squirt-out-of-my-anus/305608/21 "2005-05-26T21:08:20Z")
Gilda Radner’s book “It’s Always Something” describes a procedure where they unclogged her system by putting a tube weighed with a condem of mercury on the end of it up her nose and through her digestive system. Only the condem gets unattached and is not on the tube when it’s pulled out of her nose. So she does pass the condem and mercury the next day. Read the book for a detailed description that definitely answers the question. ---
**Author:** ![glilly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/48db29/32.png) [@glilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glilly)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-drink-a-glass-of-mercury-would-it-squirt-out-of-my-anus/305608/22 "2005-05-26T22:55:30Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Gilda Radner’s book “It’s Always Something” describes a procedure … > > Read the book for a detailed description that definitely answers the question. C’mon, can’t you just tell us? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-drink-a-glass-of-mercury-would-it-squirt-out-of-my-anus/305608/23 "2005-05-26T23:14:26Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > I can deal with Jupiter. It’s Uranus I’m worried about. I’m not worried about Uranus, just the ring around it. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-drink-a-glass-of-mercury-would-it-squirt-out-of-my-anus/305608/24 "2005-05-26T23:40:54Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Anyway, it’s dangerous to ingest mercury - because, being so close to the sun, it’s very hot and can cause serious burns. Well, u’d probably burn ur anus before you were even able to ingest Mercury, because it’s so close to the sun… you’d assumedly have to be very close to the sun in order to eat it. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-drink-a-glass-of-mercury-would-it-squirt-out-of-my-anus/305608/25 "2005-05-27T01:06:52Z")
I think the dangers of mercury (the element and _not_ the planet) are greatly overstated. I’m _not_ suggesting in the least that anyone ingest mercury. However, it’s ridiculous when entire schools get shut down for a few _days_ and a haz-mat team has to be brought in because an old mercury barometer broke. As some may know, I built my own mercury barometer and have lived to tell about it. Here’s a good cite written by a professor at the University of Denver. He’s got a PhD in chemistry and he believes elemental mercury’s dangers are overexaggerated. [http://www.du.edu/~jcalvert/phys/mercury.htm](http://www.du.edu/~jcalvert/phys/mercury.htm) ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-drink-a-glass-of-mercury-would-it-squirt-out-of-my-anus/305608/26 "2005-05-27T01:43:22Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > [From a thread about swimming in mercury:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=275305&highlight=mercury+beer) > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by shelbo > My father-in-law swears that in college he and his friends would occasionally drop some mercury into the beer of unsuspecting victims. The drops of mercury would make its way through the digestive tract, and end up in the victims shorts, in, er, very short order. [/iffy anectodal information] IIRC mercury wil lodge in the bottom of the stomach and low places in the intestines IF it get that far. It is likely to perferote the stomach also. As it that isn’t bad enough you can get mercury poisoning in an ongoing process! ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-drink-a-glass-of-mercury-would-it-squirt-out-of-my-anus/305608/27 "2005-05-27T02:03:40Z")
The nice folks at NIOSH state the IDLH level for Hg to be 2 mg/m^3, so I wouldn’t do a shooter of it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-drink-a-glass-of-mercury-would-it-squirt-out-of-my-anus/305608/28 "2005-05-27T03:57:55Z")
You may be surprised to learn that mercury (in the form of both organic and inorganic compounds) has long been used as a diuretic to treat things such as edema (swelling), heart failure, etc. It is actually reasonably effective in this regard. You may be more surprised to learn mercury containing compounds were used in this fashion quite widely until the 1960’s :eek: Although I can’t get the text of these articles off the net, it is somewhat distressing to see that mercurials were still the subject of [review articles](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=5230281&query_hl=2), in [“good” journals](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14284848&query_hl=2) as recently as 1966. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-drink-a-glass-of-mercury-would-it-squirt-out-of-my-anus/305608/29 "2005-05-27T04:42:35Z")
I believe mercuric ore (cinnabar) was used as a treatment for syphilis back in the days of yore. Often it cured the disease only for the patient to die from mercury poisoning later (I want to say they bathed in it while it was warmed but I could be wrong). ---
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-drink-a-glass-of-mercury-would-it-squirt-out-of-my-anus/305608/30 "2005-05-27T11:16:09Z")
> [@Padeye](#): > > From what little I paid attention to in high school chemistry a metal plus acid results in a metallic salt plus water. I don’t think metallic mercury is safe to ingest. that reaction depends on the oxidation potential of the metal. Mercury is too unreactive to react with the HCl in your stomach ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-drink-a-glass-of-mercury-would-it-squirt-out-of-my-anus/305608/31 "2005-05-27T12:24:49Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Anyway, it’s dangerous to ingest mercury - I wouldn’t say it’s dangerous. It just that afterwards his always running off somewhere and won’t stay around for a cuddle On the other hand he does send flowers. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-drink-a-glass-of-mercury-would-it-squirt-out-of-my-anus/305608/32 "2005-05-27T12:45:41Z")
[Monkey Drinks Mercury, Sadness Ensues](http://www.orangutan.com/theprojects/NyaruMenteng/Dec03update.htm) > [@](#): > > Alma had been healthy and fat until she one day had gotten a hold of a bottle of mercury, which her ‘owner’ used for his goldmining activities. They believed she had drunk the whole bottle because they found no waste on the ground. Two months on, she was found by the KSDA office and confiscated. By this time she was not in good shape at all. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-drink-a-glass-of-mercury-would-it-squirt-out-of-my-anus/305608/33 "2005-05-27T13:34:20Z")
Wasn’t drinking mercury a custom in certain baltic-area countries? i belive the latvians used to drink mercury…why, I have no idea! ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-drink-a-glass-of-mercury-would-it-squirt-out-of-my-anus/305608/34 "2005-05-27T13:43:15Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I’m not worried about Uranus, just the ring around it. I’d be concerned about Klingons, myself… ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-drink-a-glass-of-mercury-would-it-squirt-out-of-my-anus/305608/35 "2005-05-27T13:57:25Z")
Calomel was a plot point in a _Perry Mason_ episode back in the mid-1960s, IIRC. Some guy had been taking calomel pills and then died. Perry Mason was able to get his client acquitted because he proved someone else had murdered the guy by slipping him lemonade or something with his calomel, causing a reaction that produced toxicity or something. I don’t remember exactly, but they did get the point across that calomel was an old-fashioned remedy that no one really used any more. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-drink-a-glass-of-mercury-would-it-squirt-out-of-my-anus/305608/36 "2005-05-27T13:57:56Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > I’d be concerned about Klingons, myself… Yeah, you don’t wanna let Klingons probe Uranus. It’s improctocal and Mogh trouble than ncessary. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-drink-a-glass-of-mercury-would-it-squirt-out-of-my-anus/305608/37 "2005-05-27T16:37:27Z")
> [@The Sausage Creature](#): > > I believe mercuric ore (cinnabar) was used as a treatment for syphilis back in the days of yore. Often it cured the disease only for the patient to die from mercury poisoning later (I want to say they bathed in it while it was warmed but I could be wrong). Yup. I don’t know about the swimming, but mercury (“quicksilver”) was prescribed as a cure [for syphilis](http://poynter.indiana.edu/sas/lb/syphilis.html) back in Victorian times. According to a passage in a book I was reading last night (Neal Stephenson’s ‘System of the World’), people with syphilis would carry around bottles of quicksilver to ingest. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-drink-a-glass-of-mercury-would-it-squirt-out-of-my-anus/305608/38 "2005-05-27T17:52:06Z")
I’ve had fantasies as long as I can remember of sitting in (well, on, really) a pool filled with mercury. I wonder what it’d feel like? Would it float you so well that you could sorta walk in it? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-drink-a-glass-of-mercury-would-it-squirt-out-of-my-anus/305608/39 "2005-05-27T18:37:38Z")
Here’s an [enormous (6 meter) pool of mercury](http://www.astro.ubc.ca/LMT/lzt/). Perhaps you could get permission to sit in it. ---
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2005, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-drink-a-glass-of-mercury-would-it-squirt-out-of-my-anus/305608/40 "2005-06-01T17:22:04Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Consider that it’s also pretty hard to keep water from slipping through your hands, but your anus has no great difficulty holding water in. A good sphincter muscle produces a much better seal than do fingers. I can produce a much better shadow puppet of a seal using my fingers than I can with my anus. Perhaps your anus is more talented than mine. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-drink-a-glass-of-mercury-would-it-squirt-out-of-my-anus/305608.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-drink-a-glass-of-mercury-would-it-squirt-out-of-my-anus/305608.md?page=3)