“…The oil-recovery retarding action of mercuric chloride is attributed to the fact that it forms insoluble salts with the sulfur compounds found in crude oil (Faragher et al, 1929). When the crude oils used in the above study were shaken with an aqueous 1 per cent solution of mercuric chloride a voluminous, gummy precipitate formed at the interface between the oil phase and the aqueous phase.…”