in Physics, a discontinuation or analysis of the structure of a mixed body; by which what was one and contiguous is divided into parts, either homogeneous or heterogeneous.

Dissolution, then, is a general name for all reductions of concrete bodies into their smallest parts, without any regard either to solidity or fluidity; though, in the usual acceptation of the word among authors, it is restricted to the reduction of solid bodies into a state of fluidity; but this is more properly expressed by solution, as a branch of dissolution.