Dissolution

## Dissolution Dissolution

**Dissolution** is the operation of dissolving a solid substance in a liquid solvent, breaking down the solid's structure and dispersing it throughout the liquid. In alchemical practice, dissolution was used to extract virtues from materials, to purify substances by selective dissolution, and to prepare materials for further operations. The operation was associated with the element of water and with the principle of breaking down fixed matter to release its hidden properties. Dissolution followed calcination in many alchemical schemes, representing the stage where the calcined matter is dissolved and its principles separated.

Alchemists used various solvents for dissolution depending on the material: water for water-soluble salts, vinegar or acidic solutions for metals and minerals, alcohol for resins and organic materials, and various "philosophical solvents" described in alchemical texts. The choice of solvent was crucial: the solvent had to dissolve the desired component while leaving impurities undissolved, or vice versa. Dissolution could be aided by heat (warm or hot dissolution), by grinding the material to increase surface area, or by prolonged contact between solid and solvent. The dissolved material could then be separated from insoluble residues by filtering or decanting.

In alchemical symbolism, dissolution represented the breaking down of form, the return to a fluid, undifferentiated state. The solid matter, calcined and reduced to powder, is dissolved in the philosophical water, losing its fixed nature and becoming fluid and volatile. This stage was often depicted as the king or the sun drowning in the sea, or as the descent into the waters of chaos. Dissolution was necessary to release the spirit trapped in matter, to separate the pure from the impure, and to prepare for the subsequent operations of separation and purification. The operation was associated with the color white or with the transition from black to white, with the element of water, and with lunar symbolism. Dissolution thus represents both the practical operation of dissolving substances and the symbolic operation of breaking down fixed forms to release hidden principles.

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