That little snippet into the life of a young Kevin is not nearly enough. 
Any chance you can serialize your life into monthly chapters to send out 
to us all?
Heather Morgan

On Wed, Jul 13, 2011 at 3:28 PM, Kevin Mac Donnell wrote:

> OK, one gets a PINT of mercury from one's playmates and doesn't ask 
> where they got it.
>
> I was maybe ten years old. My friends had the mercury in a glass 
> beaker and for some reason we poured it into a one-pint ice cream or 
> milk carton. Then we decided to pour it back into the beaker and 
> that's when the mishap occurred and they poured it all over my hands 
> instead. Most of it beaded up and fell off, but my hands were very 
> dirty and some of it stuck and got wiped into my blue jeans, hair, and 
> anywhere else I thought to put them. We had great fun trying to 
> salvage what we could off the wood floor, hoping that we could avoid 
> creating a Environmental Superfund Cleanup Site.
>
> One of my two friends with the mercury later became a drug addict but 
> recovered in his 40s, married, and is OK now. The other later went to 
> prison for murder, was released after 20 years, and died a few years 
> ago after he took himself off an organ transplant list because he 
> thought himself unworthy (he grew up with a father like Pap Finn and 
> should have lit out instead of killing anybody). I did light out, but 
> never-the-less became a bookseller and Mark Twain collector. It was a 
> rough neighborhood, and is still contaminated with about a half-pint 
> of mercury and a few haunting memories.
>
> Enough Mercury. Back to Mark...
>
> Kevin
> @
> Mac Donnell Rare Books
> 9307 Glenlake Drive
> Austin TX 78730
> 512-345-4139
> Member: ABAA, ILAB
> *************************
> You may browse our books at
> www.macdonnellrarebooks.com
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Fred Harwood" 
> <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2011 12:57 PM
> Subject: Re: Mark's exposure to mercury
>
>
>> Mercury has been used in many devices, ranging from bulb switches, to
>> pendulum weights, to sealing steam heating piping from condensate 
>> returns.
>> Quite a bit of mercury was used in barometers, from where the present
>> weather pressure systems got their nomenclature, such as 29.8 inches 
>> of Hg.
>> Including sensitive thermometers, mercury still has many uses, 
>> including
>> small amounts in every fluorescent light bulb, a hot topic today.
>>
>> The price of mercury approximates $1,300 a flask of 76 pounds.
>>
>>
>> on 7/8/11 2:17 PM, Arianne at [log in to unmask] wrote:
>>
>>> Not to mention pints of mercury.  (Where does one run into a PINT of
>>> mercury?
>>
>> -- 
>> Linwood Cottage, Sheffield
>>
>> Man was made at the end of the week's work, when God was tired.
>> -- Notebook, 1903; Mark Twain, a Biography
>>
>>
>>
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>> 07/13/11
>>
>
>
>
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