I am writing a book about Abraham Lincoln, and have learned that he took 750 plus mgs of mercury per day for years. I don't know if he took more than one pill a day. In 1858 he began to have irrational rages, and about 5 months after his first inauguration he stopped taking them, because he said they were making him "cross."
I am appalled at some of the actions he took during the Civil War, such outright cruelty and violation of the constitution, and am wondering if his behavior could have been related to mercury poisoning.