\So*lu"tion\ (s[-o]*l[=u]"sh[u^]n), n. [OE. solucion,
OF. solucion, F. solution, fr. L. solutio, fr. solvere,
solutum, to loosen, dissolve. See {Solve}.]
1. The act of separating the parts of any body, or the
   condition of undergoing a separation of parts; disruption;
   breach.
         In all bodies there is an appetite of union and
         evitation of solution of continuity.  --Bacon.
2. The act of solving, or the state of being solved; the
   disentanglement of any intricate problem or difficult
   question; explanation; clearing up; -- used especially in
   mathematics, either of the process of solving an equation
   or problem, or the result of the process.
3. The state of being dissolved or disintegrated; resolution;
   disintegration.
         It is unquestionably an enterprise of more promise
         to assail the nations in their hour of faintness and
         solution, than at a time when magnificent and
         seductive systems of worship were at their height of
         energy and splendor.                  --I. Taylor.
4. (Chem.Phys.) The act or process by which a body (whether
   solid, liquid, or gaseous) is absorbed into a liquid, and,
   remaining or becoming fluid, is diffused throughout the
   solvent; also, the product reulting from such absorption.
Note: When a solvent will not take in any more of a substance
      the solution is said to be saturated. Solution is two
      kinds; viz.: (a) {Mechanical solution}, in which no
      marked chemical change takes place, and in which, in
      the case of solids, the dissolved body can be regained
      by evaporation, as in the solution of salt or sugar in
      water. (b) {Chemical solution}, in which there is
      involved a decided chemical change, as when limestone
      or zinc undergoes solution in hydrochloric acid.
      {Mechanical solution} is regarded as a form of
      molecular or atomic attraction, and is probably
      occasioned by the formation of certain very weak and
      unstable compounds which are easily dissociated and
      pass into new and similar compounds.
Note: This word is not used in chemistry or mineralogy for
      fusion, or the melting of bodies by the heat of fire.
5. release; deliverance; discharge. [Obs.] --Barrow.
6. (Med.)
   (a) The termination of a disease; resolution.
   (b) A crisis.
   (c) A liquid medicine or preparation (usually aqueous) in
       which the solid ingredients are wholly soluble. --U.
       S. Disp.
{Fehling's solution} (Chem.), a standardized solution of
   cupric hydrate in sodium potassium tartrate, used as a
   means of determining the reducing power of certain sugars
   and sirups by the amount of red cuprous oxide thrown down.
{Heavy solution} (Min.), a liquid of high density, as a
   solution of mercuric iodide in potassium iodide (called
   the Sonstadt or Thoulet solution) having a maximum
   specific gravity of 3.2, or of borotungstate of cadium
   (Klein solution, specific gravity 3.6), and the like. Such
   solutions are much used in determining the specific
   gravities of minerals, and in separating them when
   mechanically mixed as in a pulverized rock.
{Nessler's solution}. See {Nesslerize}.
{Solution of continuity}, the separation of connection, or of
   connected substances or parts; -- applied, in surgery, to
   a fracture, laceration, or the like. ``As in the natural
   body a wound, or solution of continuity, is worse than a
   corrupt humor, so in the spiritual.'' --Bacon.
{Standardized solution} (Chem.), a solution which is used as
   a reagent, and is of a known and standard strength;
   specifically, a normal solution, containing in each cubic
   centimeter as many milligrams of the element in question
   as the number representing its atomic weight; thus, a
   normal solution of silver nitrate would contain 107.7 mgr.
   of silver nitrate in each cubic centimeter.