I had a physics class in a community college that had us handling open containers of mercury for our experiments. It was maybe 15 years ago.<p>Someone in one of the classes managed to knock one of the jars over, and mercury spilled everywhere on the floor. Either the students hid their spill from the staff, or the staff just had some janitors do a simple sweeping of it, because I noticed spheres of mercury everywhere in that classroom throughout the semester.<p>I didn&#x27;t realize that mercury spills are such a huge issue until recently.<p>The professor also seemed to be going crazy, which suggests to me that this happened more than once in the past and he was suffering from the effects of mercury poisoning.