8- ' 



QUART. 



QUEHCITRIN. 



8 SO 



to bring from a quarry a mass of stone containing about 576 cubic 

 feet. For thLs purpose, two broad cylinders of wood, 15 feet in 

 diameter, were constructed; and the stone, being raised from the 

 ground, was made to rest between them, the line of its length being in 

 a horizontal position in the direction of their common axis, then a 

 rope being wound round the circumference of the united cylinders in 

 the middle of the length of the latter, and one end of it being made 

 fast to the harness of the oxen, it was intended that, by the motion 

 of the animals, the cylinder should revolve on the ground, and the 

 stone be brought up to its place. The contrivance appears to have 

 failed ; but had the oxen been attached to the two ends of the cylinder 

 instead of its middle, there is no reason to doubt that it would have 

 succeeded. 



So far as concerns our own country, granite is the hardest stone 

 quarried in any considerable quantity. The largest operation in 

 Cornish granite is believed to have been the detaching and working of 

 a block weighing 33 tons, for an obelisk. The granite of Brown Willy, 

 sent down to Wadebridge for shipment; that of the Cheesewring, 

 shipped at Liskeard ; that of the Par Valley, shipped at Par Harbour ; 

 and that of Penrhyn, shipped at Falmouth, are well-known examples 

 of Cornish granite. In some of these quarries the stone is of beautiful 

 texture, and glistens brightly in the sun ; so hard is the stone, that 

 the blows of the picks against it give forth a real musical sound, vary- 

 ing in pitch according to the size of the pick. We have said that the 

 use of gunpowder is rather limited in quarries of stone for building, 

 because the substance is apt to be too much shattered by this explosive 

 force. We may, however, refer to BLASTINU for further information 

 as to this process especially in those instances where an electric cur- 

 rent is employed to ignite the powder. Enormous masses of Holyhead 

 mountain are now being quarried in this way, to furnish materials for 

 a new breakwater in the harbour of refuge ; a railway extends from 

 the place of detachment to the place of deposition, thereby greatly 

 facilitating the operations. 



At the Aberdeen meeting of the British Association, in 1859, Mr. 

 Gibb gave an account of the Aberdeenshire granite quarries, from 

 which it appears that those quarries have been worked about two 

 centuries and a half. The operations were on a small scale until about 

 the year 1741, when an extensive fire at Aberdeen led to a municipal 

 order that the fronts of houses should be built of stone, instead of 

 wood as heretofore. Aberdeen granite was first used in the London 

 streets in 1764 ; but Waterloo Bridge was the first great metropolitan 

 work constructed in this stone. The quarries are about twenty in 

 number, and present five kinds of granite, technically known as blue, 

 red or Peterhead, light red, soft gray, and white. It exhibits irregular 

 manes, and a columnar structure. A good deal of blasting is neces- 

 sary in the operations. The best stone is now found at some depth 

 beneath the surface. Dressing machines have occasionally been tried 

 to bring the blocks of granite into form, but they have not been satis- 

 factory, because they acted like a plane ; whereas granite requires a 

 kind of percussive action to bring down the surface. There are about 

 /JIM i workmen and 50 horses at the quarries. The produce is now 

 about 50,000 tona annually, of which 30,000 tons are exported. 



It is right to observe that builders generally consider it advantageous 

 to dispose the stones in the lower part of an edifice in the same posi- 

 tion as they had when lying in the quarry ; it being understood that 

 they are then best capable of supporting the weight of the super- 

 structure. 



QUART, the same word as quarter, but always used (in our language) 

 for the quarter of a gallon. [GALLON.] 



QUARTER, the fourth part of anything. The frequency of divi- 

 sion into four parts has caused the word to be used sometimes in the 

 sense of a part or portion allotted. Thus the portion of a camp or 

 barrack allotted to one soldier is called his ijiiurtm. 



QUARTER. [HERALDRY.] 



QUARTER-SESSIONS. [SESSIONS.] 



QUARTER-SQUARES. A table of the fourth part of the squares 

 of numbers may be substituted for one of logarithms in multiplication. 

 For since 



a table which gives the squares of the halves of numbers will, by the 

 addition of the squares of the halves or quarter-squares, give the pro- 

 duct. Where a + 6 and a 6 are odd, the fraction J is omitted from 

 both squares, which obviously produces no effect. Thus the tabular 

 quarter square of 5 is not 6} , but 6. [TABLE.] 



QUARTILE, a term of astrology and ancient astronomy. Two 

 bodies are said to have a quartile aspect when their longitudes diner 

 by 90 degrees, or one quarter of the whole great circle. 



QUARTZ. [SILICON.] 



QUASSIA. The wood of two different trees is known in commerce 

 by this name : one, formerly very common, but now extremely rare, 

 is obtained from the Qtuutia amara (Linn., f. supp. 235, and Woodv., 

 t. 77), a native of Surinam, Guayana, &c. ; the other, Picrcena exceha, 

 Lindley (Quanta excelta, Swartz), is a native of Jamaica. Both kinds 

 are- imported in billets, sometimes a foot in diameter and several feet 

 long ; but before being used for medicinal purposes, they are cut into 

 chips, which are of a light gray colour, or, by long exposure to the air 



of a yellow or brownish hue. The physical characters of the two sorts 

 are so similar, that . it is difficult to distinguish them ; but a watery 

 infusion of the Surinam quassia by pertnuriate of iron is only rendered 

 turbid, with grayish flocculent pieces floating in it, while that of the 

 Jamaica quassia is rendered black by the same re-agent. Both are 

 devoid of odour, but possess an intensely bitter taste, which is stronger 

 but more disagreeable in the Jamaica quassia. This property at once 

 distinguishes quassia from any other wood which may be substituted 

 for it. The active principle seems to be quassite, a neutral body, which 

 crystallises in white prisms, and is readily soluble in alcohol. Quassia 

 has a poisonous influence over mauy of the lower animals, and perhaps 

 even over very susceptible individuals of a higher grade. The infu- 

 sion of quassia should be made with cold water. The bitter cup, now 

 popular, is made of quassia, and is a convenient form of obtaining an 

 infusion. 



Quassia is regarded as a pure and simple bitter, possessing tonic 

 properties of a very marked kind ; and hence it is useful in mauy 

 forms of debility, particularly of the stomach and muscular system. 

 It is generally given in the form of infusion, which serves as a conve- 

 nient vehicle for some of the preparations of iron, especially the proto- 

 sulphate and the phosphate. The Jamaica quassia ought not to be 

 employed as a vehicle for the perinuriate of iron, as an inky fluid, 

 instead of a clear transparent one, is the result. The want of aroma 

 may be obviated by adding to the infusion a portion of the compound 

 tincture of quassia (' Phann. Edin.'), which renders it more grateful 

 and more beneficial. 



Infusion of quassia, sweetened with sugar, is useful to destroy flies, 

 and is much safer than the fly-waters made of king's yellow or orpi- 

 ment, a poisonous compound of arsenic ; for should children or others 

 drink the infusion, improved appetite would bo the only result, 

 whereas death is the frequent consequence of drinking the arsenical 

 fly-water. 



QUASSIN, or Quassilc (C^H^O, ?). The bitter principle of quassia 

 wood. [QUASSIA AMARA, in NAT. HIST. Div.J It may be obtained 

 by treating the solid aqueous extract with alcohol, evaporating, and 

 recrystallising. It forms small, white, opaque prisms, inodorous and 

 very bitter. Nitric acid converts it into oxalic acid. 



QUEEN, from the Saxon cjien, used to denote mulier, femina, 

 <'.'/".', as well as the most distinguished of women and wives, to 

 whom now it is only appropriated. The other use of it, as betokening 

 a sovereign princess who has succeeded to the kingly power, is an 

 application of it not originally contemplated. 



The king's consort has been regarded in all countries as a person of 

 eminent dignity, and has been invested with privileges not allowed to 

 any other married woman. In England she can purchase lands, and 

 take grants from the king her husband ; she bos separate courts and 

 officers, including an attorney- and a solicitor-general ; she may sue 

 and be sued apart from her husband, have separate goods, and dispose 

 of them by will. She pays no toll, is not subject to amercement, and 

 has a share in fines made to the king for certain privileges, which last 

 is called queen's gold. Anciently manors belonging to the crown were 

 assigned to her in dower, but this provision is now made by a Parlia- 

 mentary grant. Again, there is thrown over her person a peculiar 

 protection. It is as much treason to compass or imagine the death of 

 the king's consort as of the king himself. To violate or defile her 

 person is also treason, though she be consenting. It has been the 

 usual practice to crown the queen with the same kind of solemnities as 

 at the coronation of a king. In the case of Caroline, the consort of 

 King George IV., who was living at the time apart from her husband, 

 this was not done ; but her right was asserted at the time by Mr. 

 Brougham before the Privy Council. 



The chief distinction between a queen-dowager and the widow of 

 any other person of eminent rank lies in this, that though she marry 

 with a commoner, she does not lose her rank ; but no one can marry a 

 queen-dowager without the special licence of the sovereign. 



A queen-regnant, or princess who has inherited the sovereign power, 

 differs in no respect from a king as to the political rights vested in the 

 dignity. 



QUEEN-CONSORT. [QUEEN.] 



QUEEN'S METAL is a white alloy, used for making spoons, knife- 

 handles, teapots, &c. It is intermediate in properties between PEWTER 

 and BRITANNIA-METAL, and consists of 9 parts of tin, 1 of antimony, 

 1 of bismuth, and 1 of lead. 



QUERCETIC ACID. [QutRcmiiN.] 



QUERCETIN. [QUERCITRIN.] 



QUERCIN. A crystalline matter said to be contained in oak-bark. 



QUERCITANNIC ACID. [TANNIC ACIDS.] 



QUERCITE (C^HjjOjj). A variety of sugar contained in acorns. 

 It separates out in transparent prismatic crystals from a concentrated 

 and fermented infusion of acorns; the tannin having first been 

 separated by the addition of lime. It is soluble in water and in proof 

 spirit, is not fermentescible, and does not reduce alkaline tartrate of 

 copper. [MANNITE.] 



QUERCITRIC ACID. [QUERCITRIN.] 



QUERCITRIN. Querritric Acid (C^H^O^ + a Aq.). The yellow 

 colouring matter contained in quercitron bark. [QUERCUS, tinctoria, 

 in NAT. HIST. Div.] An alcoholic tincture of the coarsely comminuted 

 bark is treated with gelatin to remove tannic acid; on evaporation 



