The concept of pressure solution, that a stressed portion of a solid is more soluble than an unstressed portion, is not new, but the relationship between stress and solution has not been experimentally established. The solution rate was examined around a fluid-filled circular hole in a slab loaded by &sgr;0 perpendicular to the axis of the hole. The known circumferential stress around the hole varied from a tension of -&sgr;0 to a compression of +3&sgr;0. A variety of geologic materials, including single-crystal halite, limestone, dolomitic, marble, quartzite, and novaculite, was used. Although the details of the solution kinetics for these materials differed considerably, and the pore fluid, sample material, axial load, and temperature differed from experiment to experiment, the same result was obtained whenever the solution rate was limited by the dissociation of the mineral at the solid-liquid interface. The shape of the hole after solution occurred was approximately an ellipse and differed markedly from the shape that it would have attained if the rate of solution were proportional to strain energy density. The solution rate at a point seems to be directly proportional to local stress.