Editing Sublimation (phase transition) (section)

==Historical usage==
In ancient [[alchemy]], a [[protoscience]] that contributed to the development of modern chemistry and medicine, alchemists developed a structure of basic laboratory techniques, theory, terminology, and experimental methods. ''Sublimation'' was used to refer to the process in which a substance is heated to a vapor, then immediately collects as sediment on the upper portion and neck of the heating medium (typically a [[retort]] or [[alembic]]), but can also be used to describe other similar non-laboratory transitions. It was mentioned by alchemical authors such as [[Basil Valentine]] and [[George Ripley (alchemist)|George Ripley]], and in the ''[[Rosarium philosophorum]]'', as a process necessary for the completion of the [[magnum opus (alchemy)|magnum opus]]. Here, the word ''sublimation'' was used to describe an exchange of "bodies" and "spirits" similar to laboratory phase transition between solids and gases. Valentine, in his ''[[Basil Valentine#Selected publications|Le char triomphal de l'antimoine]]'' (Triumphal Chariot of Antimony, published 1646) made a comparison to [[spagyrics]] in which a vegetable sublimation can be used to separate the spirits in wine and beer.<ref>{{cite book |last=Barrett |first=Francis |date=1815 |title=The lives of alchemystical philosophers: with a critical catalogue of books in occult chemistry, and a selection of the most celebrated treatises on the theory and practice of the hermetic art |url=https://archive.org/details/livesofalchemyst00barr |publisher=Macdonald and Son for Lackington, Allen, & Co. |page=[https://archive.org/details/livesofalchemyst00barr/page/233 233]}}</ref> Ripley used language more indicative of the mystical implications of sublimation, indicating that the process has a double aspect in the spiritualization of the body and the corporalizing of the spirit.<ref>{{cite book |last=DiBernard |first=Barbara |year=1980 |title=Alchemy and Finnegans wake. |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0873953887 |page=[https://archive.org/details/alchemyfinnegans0000dibe/page/57 57] |url=https://archive.org/details/alchemyfinnegans0000dibe/page/57 }}</ref> He writes:<ref>Ripley, George (1591). [http://www.levity.com/alchemy/ripgat8.html ''Compound of Alchemy''].</ref>

<blockquote><poem>
And Sublimations we make for three causes,
The first cause is to make the body spiritual.
The second is that the spirit may be corporeal,
And become fixed with it and consubstantial.
The third cause is that from its filthy original.
It may be cleansed, and its saltiness sulphurious
May be diminished in it, which is infectious.
</poem></blockquote>