"It is the only metal that is a liquid at room temperature and it evaporates, or vaporizes, relatively easily. Mercury can also combine with other metals to make "amalgams", or solutions of metals, and has been used in the extraction of gold because of this property. One of the first metals to be mined, it was found in Egyptian tombs dating back to 1500 B.C. Mercury has been a part of the occult arts and human folklore and has been used in medicine, science and technology for millennia. In the modern world, there are many cultural, commercial and industrial uses for the metal still in practice."