in chemistry, a kind of calcination, when metals or other hard bodies are corroded or softened by receiving certain fumes for that purpose.

medicine. By the subtle fumes that are inspired as well as inhaled into our bodies, much benefit or prejudice is produced, according to the nature of the matter, and the constitution into which it is received; as is evident from the palls produced among workers in lead-mines, &c., and the benefits received in many cases when the air is impregnated with salutary materials. Catarrhs and catarrhous coughs are relieved by fumes received with the breath; and, by the same method, expectoration is assisted in humoral asthmas; and even ulcers in the lungs are said to have been healed by this method. The advantage of mercurial fumigations in the cure of venereal ulcers is known to every practitioner.