Lawd, that stuff stung!! Can't even buy it any more. You're lucky if you can find mercury-free Merthiolate. I still prefer my old mercury thermometer. I think it's a better gauge of temperature than the digital ones. I promise I won't bite the end off the glass. My brother and I used to bust them just to play with the mercury. Ticked my mom off. It'll roll up into such neat balls. Maybe that's why I am demented.