What is "white flux"

Flux \Flux\ (fl[u^]ks), n. [L. fluxus, fr. fluere, fluxum, to flow: cf.F. flux. See Fluent, and cf. 1st & 2d Floss, Flush, n., 6.]

1. The act of flowing; a continuous moving on or passing by, as of a flowing stream; constant succession; change.

   By the perpetual flux of the liquids, a great part of them is thrown out of the body.
   --Arbuthnot.

   Her image has escaped the flux of things, And that same infant beauty that she wore Is fixed upon her now forevermore.
   --Trench.

   Languages, like our bodies, are in a continual flux.
   --Felton.

2. The setting in of the tide toward the shore, -- the ebb being called the reflux.

3. The state of being liquid through heat; fusion.

4. (Chem. & Metal.) Any substance or mixture used to promote the fusion of metals or minerals, as alkalies, borax, lime, fluorite.

   Note: White flux is the residuum of the combustion of a mixture of equal parts of niter and tartar. It consists chiefly of the carbonate of potassium, and is white. -- Black flux is the ressiduum of the combustion of one part of niter and two of tartar, and consists essentially of a mixture of potassium carbonate and charcoal.

5. (Med.)

   1. A fluid discharge from the bowels or other part; especially, an excessive and morbid discharge; as, the bloody flux or dysentery. See Bloody flux.

   2. The matter thus discharged.

6. (Physics) The quantity of a fluid that crosses a unit area of a given surface in a unit of time.