"Tudor Hughes" wrote in message
oups.com...
I strongly suspect that if you had a mercury barometer and the tube
broke and all the mercury fell on the floor and you left it there you
would not be in any danger whatever.
I certainly hope not, as I remember someone broke a mercury thermometer in
the chemistry classroom at my old school - and the fascinating, tiny,
mercury globules lay there for quite some time before the teacher found out.

I seem to remember someone trying to pick some up (to get rid of the
evidence) and ending up with just a grey smear on their fingers for their
troubles.

That was in the early 90s, with a chemistry teacher who was just about to
retire. He certainly wasn't one of the "health and safety" brigade!