Editing Mercury(II) oxide (section)

==History==
An experiment for the preparation of mercuric oxide was first described by 11th century Arab-Spanish alchemist, [[Maslama al-Majriti]], in ''Rutbat al-hakim.''<ref>{{Cite book|last=Holmyard |first=E. J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uLsOAwAAQBAJ&dq=majriti+mercuric+oxide&pg=PA257 |title=Inorganic chemistry |date=1931 |publisher=Рипол Классик |isbn=978-5-87636-953-6 |language=en}}</ref> It was historically called [[wikt:red precipitate|red precipitate]] (as opposed to [[wikt:white precepitate|white precepitate]] being the [[mercuric amidochloride]]).

In 1774, [[Joseph Priestley]] discovered that oxygen was released by heating mercuric oxide, although he did not identify the gas as [[oxygen]] (rather, Priestley called it "[[Phlogiston|dephlogisticated]] air," as that was the [[paradigm]] that he was working under at the time).<ref>{{cite book |last=Almqvist |first=Ebbe |title=History of Industrial Gases  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OI0fTJhydh4C&dq=Joseph+Priestley+oxygen+mercury&pg=PA23 |year=2003 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-306-47277-0 |page=23}}</ref>