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QUADRILLE

Q, seventeenth letter and thirteenth consonant of the English alphabet; corresponds to the Hebrew and Phoenician koph, and as it is seldom used except in conjunction with u, most grammarians are disposed to regard it as a superfluous letter whose place could be supplied by k. It does not occur in the Greek, old Latin, Slavic, Irish, or Saxon alphabet. It was introduced into the Latin at an early period, but was rejected by Varro and some other grammarians. See ABBREVIATIONS.

Qua'di, powerful ancient people of SE. Germany, of the Suevic race; inhabited the country between Mount Gabreta, the Hercynian forest, the Sarmatian Mountains, and the Danube (portions of Bohemia, Moravia, and Lower Austria). In the reign of Tiberius the Romans erected a kingdom of the Quadi, but during the reign of Marcus Aurelius they joined the German confederacy against the empire. They remained independent till their disappearance from history about the close of the fourth century.

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Quad'rant, fourth part of the circle, or an arc of 90°, and hence an instrument employed for measuring angles in any plane. The use of quadrants has been for surveying and for making astronomical observations, and cially in navigation for determining the meridian altitude of the sun, and through this the latitude of the observer. They have been constructed of a great variety of forms and dimensions adapted for their several uses; but at present the interest attached to them is historical only, as they have been entirely superseded either by the sextant or the full circle. In gunnery, the quadrant or gunner's square is a rectangular frame with a graduated arc between the two limbs.

Quadratic Equa'tion. See EQUATION.

Quad'rature, operation of finding an expression for the area bounded by a line or lines, straight or curved, on a plane.

Archimedes undertook the solution by calculating the peripheries of two polygons of many sides, one circumscribed and the other inscribed about the circle. This gives the ratio of diameter to circumference between 1:38 and 1:34. The Hindus early arrived at the proportion 1,250:3,927, or 3.1416, which is more exact. In modern times the first great step in improving the calculation was made by Peter Metius, a Hollander. By calculating from polygons of about 1,536 sides he found that the proportion was less than 3 and greater than 3%; and presuming that the mean of these was nearer the truth than either limit, he hit thus by chance on a near approximation, and determined a ratio convenient for practical purposes, viz., 113:355. The error involved in this expression in a circle of 1,900 m. circumference is less than 1 ft. Ludolph van Keulen, another Hollander, about the same time, 1590, extended the calculation to thirty-six figures, which are engraved on his tombstone in Leyden. These are

3.14159265358979323846264338327950289.

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last figure is too large, and 8 would be too number of 607 decimals. When it was made small. In 1853 a Mr. Shanks reached the evident that the arithmetical expression was impossible, a geometrical construction was attempted; but this, too, is now generally admitted to be impracticable.

Quadrilat'eral, The, name commonly applied to the Italian strongholds of Peschiera, Manshaped territory the angles of which are inditua, Verona, and Legnago, or to the trapezoidalcated by these four towns. From Peschiera to Verona is 15 m., and from Mantua to Legnago 21 m. This quadrilateral has formed the base of all military operations against Italy during almost a thousand years. Its possession has been supposed to assure control of the peninsula. In like manner Rustchuk, Silistria, Shumla, and Varna form the quadrilateral of the Balkan Peninsula, and were considered the main defense of Constantinople, and of the Ottoman possessions in Europe until the Russian-Turkish War of 1877. The third or Asiatic quadrilateral was formed by Batum, Ardahan, Kars, and Baiezid at the NE. of the Ottoman possessions in Asia. The Treaty of Berlin left only Baiezid to the Ottomans. The four were a defensive line of fortresses rather than a real quadrilateral, though so called.

Quadrature of the Cir'cle, geometrical problem of finding a square whose area shall be rigorously equal to that of a given circle. It is one of four celebrated problems vainly attacked by the ancients, the other three being: (1) the duplication of the cube, or the construction of a line the cube of which shall be double that of a given line; (2) the trisection of an angle; and (3) the insertion of two geometric means between two given lines. All of these problems are shown by modern mathematics to be unsolvable in the ancient sense. As the area of a circle is equal to that of a right-angled triangle, the altitude of which is the radius of the circle and the base of its circumference, and as the side of a square of equal area is a mean between the height and half the base of the triangle, the problem would be solved if the circumference bore a perfectly measurable proportion to the radius. | obsolete.

Quadrille', a dance of French origin, usually danced by four couples, each couple forming one side of a square and dancing either with the opposite couple or across the corners of the square with the couple to the right or left. Sometimes danced with eight couples, called a "double header." The dance consists of five figures, all except the first being repeated. Previous to each figure eight bars of music are played.

Also the name of a game of cards, now

QUADRUMANA

QUANZA

Quadru'mana, name employed by Blumen- | bobwhite (Colinus virginianus), the "parbach, 1791, as an ordinal designation for the tridge" of the S. states, but is often extended monkeys, lemurs, and related types, man hav- to other species. The New World birds belong ing been isolated as the representative of a in the subfamily Odontophorinæ. See BOBpeculiar order named Bimana. The two types WHITE. are now generally combined in one order named Primates, under which head man and the monkeys are combined in one suborder (Anthropoidea), and contrasted with the lemurs, which constitute another suborder (Prosimia). Quad'ruple Alli'ance, (1) alliance against Spain, concluded, 1718-19, between Great Britain, France, Austria, and Holland; (2) alliance between Spain, Great Britain, France, and Portugal, 1834, for the defense of constitutionalism against the Carlists in the firstnamed country.

Quæs'tor, magistrate of ancient Rome, appointed originally to assist the consuls in the detection of crime and the administration of

justice, and later serving as their assistants. Their number increased from four in 421 B.C. to twenty in the time of Sulla, and was raised to forty by Julius Cæsar, but reduced again to twenty by Augustus. At Rome the quæstors were charged with criminal jurisdiction (jurisdiction in civil suits falling to the prætor), with the management of the public finances and of the state archives. In the provinces the chief duties of the quæstor consisted in the management of financial affairs for his superior officer. Election to the quæstorship carried with it admission to the senate.

Quag'ga. See ZEBRA.

Quail (kwal), popular name for various small gallinaceous birds, but strictly speaking belonging to the common quail (Coturnix communis) of Europe, Asia, and N. Africa, a

Quain, Richard, 1800-87; British anatomist and surgeon; b. Fermoy, Ireland; became demonstrator, 1828, and Prof. of Anatomy in Univ. of London, 1832; surgeon to the N. London Hospital, 1850-66; held several places in the Royal College of Surgeons, and was surgeon extraordinary to the queen. His elaborate treatise on the " Anatomy of the Arteries of the Human Body" ranks as a classical work. He edited, with others, the fifth edition of "Quain's Anatomy," originally written by his brother, Jones Quain (1796-1865).

Quak'ers. See FRIENDS, SOCIETY OF.

Quak'ing Grass, any grass of the genus Briza. The spikelets are ovate, and have such delicate stalks that a light wind sets them B. maxima and B. quaking and rattling. dens, and the latter is partly naturalized in media, from Europe, are cultivated in garthe U. S.

Quan'tity (in meter), the time consumed in uttering syllables, or the duration of syllables. It is, of course, relative. The duration of a short syllable in slow utterance may be as great as that of a long syllable in rapid utterance. Quantity and quality (nature, timbre) are often confounded. When the first o in " coöperate " is called "long" and the second one "short," these terms should be understood only of the quality. The confusion is increased, or rather the error is emphasized, by the use of quantity marks (,) to indicate these sounds. Difference of quantity is, no doubt, often associated with difference of quality, but the latter does not constitute the former.

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While the ancient languages had great variety of quantity, that of each particular syllable was more fixed than with us. This may be seen by applying English analogy to ancient words. All pronounce 'amicus," "amavi " with the second syllables long; but in "amicitia," amavisti" many make those same syllables short, whereas they were just as long as in the former words. To the Roman ear āmābāmus would have been as barbarous as "ămăbam." It has often been denied that there is any consciousness of quantity in English. It is true that we do not feel any definite relation of long syllables to short ones in reading or speaking as we do in singing (and, indeed, this was the case with the ancients); but that there is sometimes difference of quantity can be perceived by comparing "furrow" with " furlough," "bonnie" with "spondee," "tory" with "turnkey," etc. In reading member of the subfamily Perdicina, and a verse, however, we merely make the feet apnear relative of the Partridge. The European proximately equal without feeling or perceivquail is 7 in. long, brownish or reddish graying exactly how it is accomplished, just as in above, marked with streaks of buff; below, singing we can give the voice a definite pitch general pale bluff, fading into white on the without any consciousness of the vibrations belly. Other members of the genus occur in that determine the pitch. Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. In the U. S. the name is commonly bestowed on the

COMMON QUAIL.

Quan'za. See CUANZA.

QUARANTINE

QUARTZ

feeding, and sheltering troops, of constructing and repairing roads, military telegraphs, railways and bridges, docks and wharves, and gentary operations not expressly assigned by law or regulation to other staff departments. There is for each regiment of the line a regimental quartermaster, selected from among the lieutenants of the regiment, who is assisted in his duties by a quartermaster sergeant.

Quarantine (literally space of forty days"), time during which vessels and their passengers, cargo, etc., are isolated on entering a port when they are suspected of carry-erally with all disbursements attending miliing contagion; term also denoting such detention, and all the means employed therein. Moses prescribed (Lev. xiii) stringent precautionary measures to prevent the spread of disease. When the crusaders occupied Jerusalem, they established outside of the city an isolated place for the treatment of contagious diseases, called the hospital of St. Lazarus, Quartz, abundant and important mineral, whence the word lazaretto. Quarantine in including a variety of precious and semipreEurope dates from the thirteenth or four- cious stones, all of them essentially silica (oxteenth century, when leprosy prevailed in It- ide of silicon) more or less pure. Amethyst is aly and France. The first quarantine regu- a transparent purple variety, owing its color lation originated with Viscount Bernabo of to oxide of manganese. Superb deep-purple Reggio in Italy, January 17, 1374. The Vene- gems that change to red by artificial light are tian Senate, 1448, enacted a digest of laws found near Mursinka, in the Ural Mountains. known as the laws of quarantine. In the lat- Oriental amethyst is a purple variety of corunter part of the eighteenth century efforts were dum or sapphire, and is a far more valuable made by John Howard and others to improve gem than the ordinary amethyst. Cairngorm the lazarettoes and hospitals, and early in the nineteenth century a call was made for an international congress to consider quarantine measures. By this time the plague had waned in power and had invaded Europe as an epidemic for almost the last time.

The present U. S. quarantine laws and regulations, the latter promulgated 1894, are designed to obviate the detention of incoming vessels and passengers in so far as this is compatible with the practically absolute exclusion of infectious diseases. As a means both to prevent delay and to exclude contagion, quarantines have been established by the U. S. Govt. at all foreign ports of departure, and every vessel leaving such a port must have a bill of health from the proper U. S. officer, consular or medical, "setting forth the sanitary condition and history of the vessel, and that it has in all respects complied with the rules and regulations." The President has power "to prohibit the introduction of persons and property from such countries or places as he shall designate, and for such periods of time as he shall deem necessary." Should there be any evidence that there is infectious matter on board an incoming vessel, it is ordered to proceed to the nearest quarantine station, there to undergo treatment.

Inland quarantine has practically the same object as that of maritime quarantine, viz., the prevention of the transference of infectious disease from one locality to another, and the defining of certain portals through which all persons and things capable of conveying infection may be compelled to pass and undergo the necessary inspection, detention, etc. Domestic quarantine against such diseases as diphtheria, scarlet fever, etc., provide not only for the isolation of the patient, but for the thorough disinfection of infected rooms, bedding, etc.

Quar'termaster Gen'eral, military officer who has, in the U. S. army, the rank of brigadier general; in the British army that of major general or colonel. He is at the head of the department charged with the duty of transporting troops and materials of war, of clothing,

QUARTZ CRYSTALS.

stone, citrine, false topaz, Saxon topaz, Scotch topaz, and Spanish topaz are transparent quartz colored by oxide of iron or by carbonaceous matter. The yellow and brown are produced by heating smoky quartz. Much that is called topaz is this yellow quartz. Prase is a deep-green quartz, sometimes crystallized. It is somewhat rare, but is not much valued or used.

Rock crystal is the purest quartz. It is transparent and colorless. It is widely distributed, but it is brought chiefly from Brazil, Madagascar, and N. Carolina. It is wrought, especially by the Japanese and Chinese, into the polished "crystal balls" and other orna

ments.

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What are known as Rhine stones," "Lake George diamonds," etc., are not quartz; only paste or lead glass. Rose quartz is a pink or rose-tinted variety, rarely found crystallized. It fades by long exposure to light; is found in Maine, Moravia, and elsewhere. Smoky quartz and smoky topaz are brown to almost black, and probably are colored by carbonaceous matter. The finest crystals of smoky quartz from Mt. St. Gothard, in Switzerland, are now in the museum at Bern. It is also found at Pike's Peak, Col. The black quartz is called morion. By heating, smoky quartz yields paler shades and yellows, which