From the book
A Chymical Dictionary
Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordAn operation defined by the upward movement of heated dry matter.
- In the bookVolatile names the general capacity of light matter to be carried upward.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 43; facsimile PDF page 371.
Historical definition
Sublimatio is when any dry matter is forced upward by the heat of fire.
Meaning
The definition coordinates material, cause and direction. The subject is dry matter; heat supplies the force; upward movement distinguishes the operation. It does not describe every case in which a liquid rises during distillation.
Use in the book
Volatile names the general capacity of light matter to be carried upward. Sublimatio names a particular event or operation in which dry matter is forced upward by heat. Keeping these two grammatical roles separate helps readers distinguish a property of a material from an action performed upon it.
Several preparations in the dictionary are qualified as sublimed. Resina terræ potabilis begins with sublimed sulphur before bringing it into a liquid, balsam or oil. The qualification records an earlier stage and should not be dropped merely because the resulting preparation is liquid. A material can acquire its final form through more than one operation.
Reverberatorium, by contrast, names an instrument for calcination by flame. Its relation to fire does not make calcination and sublimation interchangeable. The first question should be what the passage says the matter does: rises, remains, dissolves, or changes its consistency.
Places to read
- SublimatioRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
- Resina terræ potabilisA liquid preparation of sublimed sulphur.
- ReverberatoriumA furnace defined by flame calcination.
- VolatileA general upward-moving or upward-carried condition of light matter.
In this edition
Sublimation is a useful modern English rendering, but this article explains the historical definition on its own terms. It does not silently replace it with a present-day technical definition involving specified phases and pressure. The source’s broad dry matter and direction of movement remain available to the reader.
Source note
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 43; facsimile PDF page 371 — Facsimile