Flux

(flūks.) (From L. flux us, a flowing.) (Chem.) The term given to any substanco employed in the arts which causes or facilitates the reduction of a metallic ore and the fusion of the metal. The fluxes made use of in experiments consist usually of alkalies, which render earthy mixtures fusible, by converting them into gla . When tartar is deflagrated with half its weight of nitre, a mixture of charcoal and carbonate of potash remains, which is called black flux. When an equal weight of nitre is used, the entire charcoal is burned off, and while flux remains. Limestone, fluor-spar, borax, and several earthy or metallic oxides, are employed as fluxes in metallurgy.-(Med.) An extraordinary i ue or evacuation of the bodily humors. (Meteor.) The F. and reflux of the sea signifies its regular and periodical motion, occurring twice in 24 hours, 48minutes. By the flux, or flow of the tide, the water rises; by the reflux, or ebb, it sinks or lowers. [s. 372]