Mercury is the most charismatic substance in the universe. Like, there are a lot of things that historical scholars have been wrong about, but you usually understand why; flawed hypotheses, inadequate measuring tools, half-truths, secondary factors that muddy the results. But people across Eurasia saw that shit and just assumed it must be the key to immortality, despite a mercury tonic being literally the opposite of an immortality potion. And they kept trying it despite all obvious evidence. Taoists burned through emperors like lab rats. No other metal has this much rizz
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