From the book
A Chymical Dictionary
Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordAn operation defined by melting and flow in fire.
- In the bookColliquation gives melting through the example of metals.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 23; facsimile PDF page 351.
Historical definition
Fusio is melting, or making a thing flow in fire.
Meaning
The second clause explains the first through a subject’s behaviour in fire. The entry names a change of condition rather than a particular product. It does not state a material, temperature or vessel.
“Flow” is useful when reading a passage whose interest is the resulting mobility of a substance. It should remain distinct from a description of a thing dissolved by another liquid or made to descend from gross matter.
Use in the book
Colliquation gives melting through the example of metals. Deliquium describes cold dissolution of coagulated bodies, while Descensorium concerns equipment in which liquid falls downward from gross matter. These comparisons clarify why becoming liquid can be described through several operations without the words being universal synonyms.
Places to read
- FusioRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
- ColliquationMelting understood through the example of metals.
- DeliquiumDissolution of a coagulated body in a cold setting.
- DescensoriumA furnace characterised by downward separation of liquid.
In this edition
The edition keeps the entry’s simple operational description. It does not impose a modern classification of the subject’s composition or a measured melting point.
Source note
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 23; facsimile PDF page 351 — Facsimile