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A sign for a solid passing directly to vapour and back.
Also known as: Sublimation sign
Heating a solid so that it turns straight to vapour without melting, then condensing it again as a purified solid. Real, visually striking, and central to alchemical theory because it looked like a body being separated from its grosser part.
Denotes sublimation: heating a solid until it passes directly into vapour without an intervening liquid stage, then condensing it as a purified solid.
Read by many practitioners as a demonstration of a subtle part of a body being separated from its gross part — an interpretation of a real physical process, not a substitute for one.
An upward stroke rising from a short horizontal line, with a small crossing mark.
Sal ammoniac was the substance through which sublimation was most often demonstrated.