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How did Pliny the Elder describe the recovery of quicksilver?

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A periodic table element box for mercury shows its symbol Hg, atomic number 80, atomic weight 200.592, electron configuration, and name. Icons indicate mercury is a transition metal, liquid at room temperature, has a rhombohedral crystal structure, and is weakly basic. — mercury Properties of mercury.

In the 1st century, the Roman writer Pliny the Elder described the recovery of quicksilver through the processes of distillation and condensation. This technique served as the historical forerunner to modern metallurgical treatment methods for extracting mercury from its ores.1