SOLU'TION, noun [Latin solutio, from solvo, to loosen, melt, dissolve. See Solve.]

1. The act of separating the parts of any body; disruption; breach.

2. The operation or process of dissolving or melting in a fluid; as the solution of sugar or salt. [Note. This word is not used in chimistry or mineralogy for the dissolution or melting of bodies by the heat of fire.] The term solution is appiled to a very extensive class of phenomena. When a solid disappears in a liquid, if the compound exhibits perfect transparency, we have an example of solution The word is applied both to the act of combination and to the result of the process. Thus common salt disappears in water, that is its solution takes place, and the liquid obtain ed is called a solution of salt in water. solution is the result of attraction or affinity between. the fluid and the solid. This affinity continues to operate to a certain point, where it is overbalanced bly the cohesion of the solid; it then ceases the fluid issaid to be saturated, the point where the operation ceases is called saturation, and the fluid is called a saturated solution solution is a true chimical union. Mixture is a mere mechanicall union of bodies.

3. Resolution; explanation; the act of explaning or removing difficulty or doubt; as the solution of a doubt in casuistry.

4. Release; deliverance; discharge.

5. In algebra and geometry, the answering of a question, or the resolving of a problem proposed.

SOLUTION OF CONTINUITY, the separation of connection of connected substances or parts; applied, in surgery, to a fracture, laceration, etc.