disquisition

A methodical inquiry or investigation.

• Near-synonym: inquisition

A lengthy, formal discourse that analyses or explains some topic; (loosely) a dissertation or treatise.

• Upon this account political diſquiſitions, if juſt, and reasonable, and practicable, are of all the works of ſpeculation the most uſeful.
• The parts of this piece are ſo intimately connected, that any ſingle portion will appear with great diſadvantage in a detached ſtate: but we muſt give the critical reader a taſte of this elegant and maſterly diſquiſition.