Oh, it's a big deal for sure. Mercury, especially in vapor form, is some nasty stuff. But so is cigarette, cigar, or (name you poison) smoke. Fortunately, it would only be a few years from this 1966 ad until we all got to enjoy safer activities such as Lawn Darts. Those were loads of safe fun!!!

Yeah, I struggle a bit to see the big deal. Sure, it's dumb, but not earth shattering. Still, I'm glad this sort of thing did not become a widespread practice.

I struggled at first to catch what the bid deal here is. Then I saw it. The guy injecting the mercury into the bow isn't wearing rubber gloves. Scary! 🤡

If it wasn't bad enough in the bow, the geniuses decided to put mercury in a stabilizer as well.

From Archery magazine, February, 1967.

Unfortunately, mercury switches are still being used. Mercury is also used in a variety of applications, including some light bulbs. You would think. with all the technology at our disposal, someone would come up with an alternative. I guess not.

Steve, i agree. Scientists tend to say something like " our current knowledge tends to show ". Unfortunately, many others, as we tend to do in most aspects of our life, accept absolute, and even extremist views. The earth was once flat, it was proven flat, people died over that fact. The earth was the center of the universe. Proven. At least one great thinker was...harshly handled when they disagreed.

And then, all of a sudden, it was round....we revolved around the sun.

Lots and lots of things we did, then later found out was not so great. Something of today as simple as Keurig coffee pods. Awesome, easy, handy. And where do all those millions of pods go ? Keep searching for the truth, because, as our knowledge increases, as our understanding increases, as our experience increases, we change.

Science is about the pursuit of truth, not the proclamation of truth. Claiming that Science is always right and then pointing out when it is wrong is a classic example of the straw-man fallacy. And then there is the problem of determining what is good-faith science, and what is snake-oil hucksterism.

In the end, the scientific method is all we've got to solve our problems, to understand the universe, and to give us any chance of a future. But like all powerful tools, its double edged. Skepticism, honesty, and good sources of unbiased, peer-reviewed studies, helps keep the process on track.

That said, putting mercury in a bow is not science. It's engineering. Bad, bad, engineering. But we keep doing that kind of thing, for example those kids shoes with blinking lights in the heels that were all the fad a few years ago got their blinking action from a mercury switch. Have we no shame?

That’s a new one to me..... YIKES!!!

I wonder how many were sold ?

We did a lot of things that looked good at the time, then we later found out it was stupid. All the rage lately is talking about being science based...science don't lie. But what if the "science" as we know it right this second, is wrong. We didn't have the whole picture. How many times per week do we read an article introducing a new finding with "this is gonna change the way we look at **** ". But last week, by gosh, this is right and you are just an ignorant fool.