other products;f all descriptions-nodern civilizationers, in cooperationbe focused on thedisparate segments)ls that are needede a technology thatlso capable of solv-aental Sciences andmore explicit to thetimulate the studentRobert L. MetcallJames N. Pitts, Jr. W erner StaturePREFACE--James MadisonAfter the cats began to dance, first poverty-stricken Japanese fishermenand then Canadian Indians saw their children born retarded and crippledwhile their own brain cells and central nervous systems were destroyedbecause of methylmercury poisoning from eating contaminated fish. Thisbook traces the history of these and other human tragedies caused by alkylmercurials directly or as a result of environmental contamination as well as the applications of the liquid element in industry and medicine. Although some of these processes are now obsolete, others have continued over the centuries, sometimes with very little assessment of their impact on people or the environment. In addition to the three sections of the book on environmental contamination, industrial uses, and medical applications, the fourth section summarizes medical treatments, some methods of remov- ing waste mercury from the environment, legislation, and the political pat- tern that has emerged in a number of mercury-pollution epidemics. Jun Ui's afterword is a thoughtful assessment of the problem. As one of the mos courageous and outspoken scientists of our time, he has battled the bureaucracies of several countries on behalf of the growing ranks of Mina- mata disease victims; and the authors' debt to him is profound. As a case study of present and previous applications of one still virtually X~