QUATORZAIN 



QUAVER 



which places a new interpretation 

 on imaginary algebraic quantities, 

 generalising directions in space. 

 Such directions are commonly re- 

 ferred to the coordinate axes of 

 Descartes, and expressed in terms 

 of Cartesian coordinates. From the 

 point of view of geometry the 

 method of quaternions is an exten- 

 sion of Cartesian geome.try, which 

 gets rid of coordinate axes and 

 treats all directions in space on the 

 same terms, and a quaternion may 

 be regarded as a factor or operator 

 of two directed lines in space which 

 changes one of these directed lines 

 into another. The symmetry of an 

 analytic method 

 applicable to a 

 space of three 

 dimensions made 

 Hamiltonian quat- 

 ernions of the ut- 

 most value in solv- 

 ing problems in 

 physics, such as 

 are connected with 

 heat conduction, 

 electric potential, 

 etc. To change the 

 length and direc- 

 tion of a line in- 

 volves four distinct 

 numbers, and for 

 this reason Hamil- 

 ton called the 

 operator bringing a bout the change 

 a quaternion. 



Quatorzain (Fr. qualorze, four- 

 teen). In English literature, a 

 poem of 14 rhymed iambic penta- 

 meter lines. It is often confused 

 with the sonnet (q.v. ), by the rigid 

 laws of which form it is not bound. 

 The quatorzain is divided into three 

 quatrains of alternate rhymes, 

 which may, but need not, be the 

 same in the successive quatrains, 

 and a final rhymed couplet, which 

 the strict sonnet never has. Most 

 of the Elizabethan " sonnets " are 

 really quatorzains, and in spite of 

 the efforts of the purists the mis- 

 take has been perpetuated. 



Quatrain (Fr. quatre, four). 

 Complete expression of a single 

 thought in four rhymed lines of 

 whatever measure and arrange- 

 n-.ent. The quatrain is especially 

 apt to the epigram. The lines writ- 

 ten by the earl of Rochester (1647- 

 80) on King Charles II's bedcham- 

 ber door are an example : 



King, 



of Waterloo. In pursuance of his 

 intention of destroying the British 

 and Prussian armies separately, 

 Napoleon ordered Ney to attack 



mals, 1864 ; The Prussian Race. 

 1872; The Human Species, 1879; 

 The Pygmies, 1895. He died in 

 Paris, Jan. 12, 1892. 



Here lie* our sovereign lord the 

 Whose word no man relies on; 



He never says a foolish thing. 

 Nor ever does a wise one. 



Quatre Bras. Village of Bel- 

 gium, in the prov. of Brabant. Its 

 name comes from its position at 

 the meeting of the Brussels-Char- 

 leroi and Namur-Nivelles main 

 roads, 2 in. S. of Genappe. It is 

 famous as the scene of the battle of 

 June 16, 1815, preceding the battle 



Quatre Bras, Belgium. House where the duke of Bruns- 

 wick, who commanded the Hanoverian troops, died of 

 his wounds. Top, right, the village, at the cross-roads 



the former at Quatre Bras while he 

 engaged Blucher at Ligny. The 

 marshal was slow in carrying out 

 the order, and it was afternoon 

 before he attacked the Dutch and 

 Belgians under the prince of 

 Orange. Wellington, in Brussels, 

 hurried up some British troops, 

 and their arrival prevented the 

 French from scoring a success, but 

 the fight, in which the British and 

 their allies Iost4,500 men, wasa very 

 sanguinary and stubborn one. To- 

 wards evening, Wellington ordered 

 a general advance which swept the 

 French from their positions, but he 

 was unable to reap the full fruits of 

 his victory on account of the neces- 

 sity of connecting with Blucher, 

 who was retreating from Ligny. See 

 Blucher ; Napoleonic Campaigns ; 

 Ney ; Waterloo ; Wellington. 



Quatrefages de Breau, JEAN 

 Louis AEMAND DE (1810-92). 

 French anthropologist and zoolog- 

 ist. Born near Valleraugue, Gard, 

 Feb. 10, 1810, he studied medicine 

 at Strasbourg, practised and taught 

 at Toulouse, 1838, removed to 

 Paris, 1840, and became professor 

 of anatomy and ethnology at the 

 Natural History Museum, 1855. 

 He was hon. F.R.S., 1879. His 

 works include The Polynesians and 

 Their Migrations, 1866 ; and an 

 Atlas of Human Crania, 1875-82. 

 There are Eng. trans, of Metamor- 

 phoses of Man and the Lower Ani- 



Quatrefoil (Fr. quatre, four ; 

 feuille, leaf). In architecture, an 

 opening in tracery consisting of 

 four lobes tangent to the inner side 

 of a circle and meeting each other 

 at cusps within the circle. Square 

 panels inscribed with a quatrefoil 

 are a common _ 

 ornament in 

 Gothic architec- 

 ture. See Cinque- 

 foil ; Cusp. 



Quatremere, 

 ETIENNE MARC 

 (1782-1857) 



Quatrefoil, archi- 

 tectural examples 



French Orient- 

 alist. After 

 studying at the 

 College de 

 France, he be- 

 came professor 

 of G r e e k at 

 Rouen, 1809, 

 and of Hebrew 

 at the College 

 de France ten years later. In 1838 

 he was appointed professor of 

 Persian. He was the first to prove 

 the derivation of Coptic from 

 ancient Egyptian, and his many 

 philological and historical works 

 are valuable. 



Quatremere de Quincy, AN 

 TOINE CHRYSOSTOME (1755-1849). 

 French archaeologist. A staunch 

 upholder of the Revolution, he oc- 

 cupied several responsible posts 

 under the republic and empire. As 

 intendant of arts and public monu- 

 ments, 1815, he did much to pre- 

 serve the archaeological remains ol 

 France, and wrote numerous works 

 on architecture and art. 



Quaver. Musical note repre- 

 sented thus : , its value being 

 one-eighth of a semibreve. Two or 

 more quavers may be grouped 

 thus : f. Its corresponding 

 rest is "I So far as can be learned, 

 the quaver was invented during tht- 



