quartz 
common form of native silica, or the oxid of 
silicon (Si() 2 ). Silica is also found in nature in the 
minerals opal and tridymite (which see). Quartz oc- 
curs crystallized and massive, and in both states is most 
abundantly diffused, being one of the constituents of 
granite, gneiss, and many other crystalline rocks, form- 
ing quartzite and sandstone, anil nmkin*,' up the mass of 
the sand of the sea-shore. When crystallized it commonly 
occurs in hexagonal prisms, terminated by hexagonal 
pyramids. It belongs, however, to the rhombohedral 
division of the hexagonal system, and its forms are some- 
times very complex. < tptically it is remarkable as exhibit- 
ing the phenomenon of circular polarization, the right- and 
left-handed character of the crystals optically correspond- 
ing to the arrangement of the modifying trapezohedral 
planes present. It scratches glass readily (hardness 7), 
gives fire with steel, becomes electrified by friction, and 
also by heating and pressure. It is infusible in the flame 
of the blowpipe, and insoluble in ordinary reagents except 
hydrofluoric acid. Its specific gravity is 2.66 when pure, 
and the luster vitreous or in some cases greasy to dull. 
The colors are various, as white or milky, gray, reddish, 
yellowish, or brownish, purple, blue, green. When color- 
less, or nearly so, and crystallized, it is known as rock- 
crystal : here belong the " Lake George diamonds," "Cor- 
nish diamond," etc. Other distinctly crystalline varieties 
are the pink, called rose-quartz; the milk-white, milk- 
quartz ; the purple or bluish-violet, amethyst ; the smoky- 
yellow or brown, smoky quartz or Cairngorm stone, called 
morion when black or nearly so ; the yellow, false topaz 
or citrine ; the aventurin, spangled with scales of mica 
or hematite ; sagenitic, containing acicular crystals of 
rutile ; the cat's-eye, opalescent through the presence of 
asbestos fibers. The cryptocrystalline varieties are named 
according either to color or to structure : here belong chal- 
cedony, agate in many forms, onyx, sardonyx, carnelian, 
heliotrope, prase, chrysoprase, flint, hornstone, jasper, 
basanite, agatized wood, etc. (see these words). The 
transparent varieties of quartz (amethyst, smoky quartz, 
etc.) are used for cheap jewelry, also when colorless for 
spectacles (then called pebble), and for optical instru- 
ments. Quartz prisms are useful in spectrum analysis, 
since quartz is highly transparent to the ultra-violet rays. 
(See ftpectrwn.) Beautiful spheres of rock-crystal, some- 
times several inches in diameter, occur in Japan. The 
massive colored kinds of quartz are much used as orna- 
mental stones, especially the agates and agatized or fossil 
wood, onyx, etc. In these cases the colors are often pro- 
duced or at least heightened by artificial means. Pul- 
verized quartz is employed in making sandpaper; also 
when pure for glass-making, and in the manufacture of 
porcelain. Quartz-veins are often found in metamorphic 
rocks, and frequently contain rich deposltsof gold; hence, 
in California and other gold-mining regions mining in the 
solid rock is commonly called quartz-mining, in con- 
tradistinction to placer and hydraulic mining. See cut 
under genAe. Babel quartz, a curious form of quartz 
crystals found at Beer Alston in Devonshire, England, the 
under surface of which shows the impression of the crys- 
tals of fluor-spar upon which the quartz was deposited. 
Also call v& Babylonian quartz. Capped quartz, a variety 
of crystallized quartz occurring in Cornwall, England, em- 
bedded in compact quartz. When the matrix is broken 
the crystals are revealed, and a cast of their pyramidal 
terminations in intaglio is obtained. Another kind con- 
sists of separable layers or caps, due to successive inter- 
ruptions in the growth of the crystal, with perhaps a depo- 
sition of a little clay between the layers. Milky quartz. 
Same as milk-quartz. 
quartz-crusher (kwarts'krush'er), n. A ma- 
chine for pulverizing quartz. 
quartziferous (kwart-Kif'e-rus), a. [< quart: 
+ -i-ferous.] Consisting of quartz, or chiefly 
of quartz ; containing quartz. 
quartzite (kwart'sit), n. [< quarts + -its?.'] A 
rock composed essentially of the mineral quartz. 
It is a rock of frequent occurrence, and often forms de- 
posits of great thickness. Quartzite is rarely without a 
granular structure, either perceptible to the naked eye Di- 
visible with the aid of the microscope. Sometimes, how- 
ever, this structure is with great difficulty perceptible. 
It is generally held by geologists that quartzite has re- 
suited from the alteration of quartzose sand, pressure and 
the presence of siliciferous solutions having thoroughly 
united the grains of which the rock was originally com- 
posed. The quartzose material of which many veins are 
made up (material which must have been deposited from 
a solution) is not generally designated as quartzite, this 
sense being reserved for such quartz as is recognized by 
its stratisrraphic position to have been formed from sedi- 
mentary material. 
quartzitic (kwart-sit'ik), a. [< quartzite + 
-ic.] Of or pertaining to quartzite or quartz ; 
4900 
quartz-porphyry (kwarts'por"fi-ri), n. See 
porphyry. 
quartz-reef (kwarts'ref), n. Same as quart-- 
rein. [Australian.] 
quartz-rock (kwarts'rok), n. Qunrtzite. 
quartz-sinter (kwarts'sin"ter), n. Silicious 
sinter. 
quartz-trachyte, n. See trachyte. 
quartz-vein (kwarts ' van), n. A deposit of 
quartz in the form of a vein. Most of the gold ob- 
tained from mining in the solid rock, and not by washing 
of detrital material, comes from veins of which the gangue 
is entirely or chiefly quartz ; hence auriferous veins are 
often called quartz-veins, and mining for gold in the rock 
is called quartz-mining. 
quartzy (kwart'si), a. [< quartz + -yl.] Con- 
taining or abounding in quartz ; pertaining to 
quartz; partaking of the nature or qualities 
of quartz ; resembling quartz. 
The Iron ore is still further separated from its granitic or 
quartzi/ matrix by washing. 
Sir George C. M. Eirdwood, Indian Arts, II. 4. 
quas (kwas), H. Same as hrass. 
quash 1 (kwosh), r. [< ME. quaxlit-n, qitiixchi'ii, 
i/Hiisxcn, quessen, < OF. quasser, causer, quassier, 
i/iii-xner, kaisser, break in pieces, bruise, shatter, 
maltreat, destroy, F. casser, break, shatter, < L. 
qimxsnrr, shake or toss violently, shatter, fig. 
shatter, impair, weaken, freq. of quatere, pp. 
qufisxtia, shake, shatter, break in pieces ; whence 
also ult. E. concuss, discuss, percuss, rescue. In 
the fig. sense this verb (L. quassare) merges 
with F. causer, annul : see quash?.] J. trans. 1 . 
To beat down or beat in pieces; crush. 
Abowte scho whirles the whele, and whlrles me undlre, 
Title alle my qwarters that whllle whare qwaste al to peces ! 
Murte Arthure (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 8890. 
The whales 
Against sharp rocks, like reeling vessels quash'd, 
Though huge as mountains, are in pieces dash'd. 
n'allrr, Battle of the Summer Islands, ii. 
2. To crush; subdue; put down summarily; 
quell; extinguish; put an end to. 
The word Puritan seemes to be quasM, and all that here- 
tofore were counted such are now Brownists. 
Mil inn, Church-Government, i. 6. 
The Commotions in Sicily are quashed, but those of Na- 
ples increase. HoweU, Letters, ill. 1. 
To doubts so put, and so quashed, there seemed to be an 
end for ever. Lamb, Witches. 
H. iutrans. To be shaken with a noise; make 
the noise of water when shaken. 
The erthe quook and quashte as hit quyke were. 
Piers Plowman (C'X xxi. 64. 
A thin and flne membrane strait and closely adhering to 
keep it |the brain ] from quashing and shaking. 
Ray, Works of Creation, II. 
quash' 2 (kwosh), r. t. [< ME. 'quashen, < OF. 
quasser, prop, causer, annihilate, annul, F. cas- 
ser, annul, < LL. cassare, annihilate, destroy, 
annul, < L. cassus, empty, hollow, fig. empty, 
vain, useless, futile, null: see cass 1 . cash 1 , cas- 
sation 1 , cashier 1 , etc.] To make void ; annul ; in 
law, to annul, abate, overthrow, or set aside for 
insufficiency or other cause: as, to quash an 
indictment. 
Pleas In abatement (when the suit is by original) con- 
clude to the writ or declaration by praying "judgment 
of the writ, or declaration, and that the same may be 
quashed," cassetur, made void, or abated. 
Blackstone, Com., III. xx. 
quash 3 (kwosh), n. [Perhaps so called with ref. 
to its being easily broken ; < quash 1 , v. Squash 2 
isofAmer. Ind. origin.] If. Apompion. Hal- 
liwell. 2. Same as squash'* (f). 
The Indian kale, ochro, quash, peppers, ackys, and a va- 
riety of pulse being natural to the climate [of Jamaica). 
f. Raughley, Jamaica Planter's Guide (1823), p. 74. 
'.] A pump- 
quartz-mill (kwarts'mil), n. 1. A machine for 
pulverizing quartz, differing in character from 
the ordinary mill in which the ore is pulverized 
by stamping, but intended to serve the same 
purpose. See stamp-mill. 2. An establish- 
ment where auriferous quartz is stamped or in 
some other way reduced to a powder, and the 
gold separated from it by amalgamation; a 
stamp-mill. 
quartzoid (kwart'soid), o. [< quartz + -aid.] 
In crystal., a double six-sided pyramid, repre- 
sented by uniting two six-sided single pyra- 
mids base to base. 
quartzose (kwart'sos), a. [< quartz + -ose.~\ 
Composed of quartz. Quartzose rocks are such 
as are essentially made up of the mineral 
quartz. Also quartzmis. 
Southey, Letters (1823), iii. 391. (Danes.) 
quashy-quasher (kwosh 'i-kwosh'er), n. A 
small tree, Theretia nireifolia, of the West In- 
dies and tropical America. It has saffron-colored 
funnel-shaped flowers, its wood is hard and even-grained, 
and its seeds yield a flxed oil called exile oil. 
quasi (kwa'si), conj. or adv. [L., as if, just as, 
as it were, about, nearly, < qiiam, as, how, + ,M, 
if.] As if; as it were; in a manner: used in in- 
troducing a proposed or possible explanation. 
quasi-. [< L. quasi, as if, as it were : see quasi.] 
A prefix or apparent adjective or adverb (and 
hence often written without the hyphen) mean- 
ing 'seeming,' 'apparent' (equivalent to 'as 
it were," in appearance,' in predicate use), ex- 
pressing some resemblance, but generally im- 
plying that what it qualifies is in some degree 
Quassia 
fictitious or unreal, or has not all the features 
of what it professes to be : as, a giiOM-argument ; 
;i </.('-historical account. In construction and 
partly in sense it is like pseudo-. 
The popular poets always represent Macon, Apolin, Ter- 
vagant, and the rest as <7<m'-deities, unable to resist the 
superior strength of the Christian God. 
Lowell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 110. 
A quasi hereditary priesthood is in each. 
J. F. Clarke, Ten Great Religions, vi. 7. 
Henry . . . allowed the Archbishop of Canterbury to 
exercise a gim'-legatine authority under himself, and with 
a check in Chancery on his proceedings. 
Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 259. 
Quasi contract, a legal relation existing between parties 
to which the law attaches some of the characteristics of a 
contractual relation. See natural obligation, under until- 
ral. Quasi corporation, delit, entail. See the nouns. 
Quasi delict ILL. qaati deUctum\, in Rom. law, the 
contravention of certain police regulations which imposed 
a penalty upon a person for certain acts committed by any 
one belonging to his family for example, throwing of 
water out of the windows. The distinction between de- 
lieta and quasi delicta has been followed by some authors 
whose writings are based on the common law ; and quasi 
delicta are defined as those acts by which damage is done 
to the obligee, though without the negligence or intention 
of the obligor, and for which damage the obligor is bound 
to make satisfaction. As, however, intention is not neces- 
sary to constitute a delict (tort), the distinction seems to 
be unnecessary In modern systems. 
quasi-evolute (kwa's!-ev"o-lut), n. In math., 
the envelop of the quasi-normal of a curve. 
quasi-fee (kwa'si-fe), n. In law, an estate 
gained by wrong, tt'liarton. 
quasi-geometrical (kwa-si-je-o-met'ri-kal), o. 
Kelating to hyperspace. 
quasi-heirlooin (kwa'si-ar'lom), n. See heir- 
loom, 1. 
Quasimodo (kwas-i-mo'do). [= F. quasimodo; 
so called because the introit for this day begins 
with the words " Quasi modo geniti infantes," 
As new-born babes (1 Pet. ii. 2) : L. quasi, as if; 
modo, just now, lately.] Same as Low Sunday. 
Also called Quasimodo Sunday and Quasimodo- 
geniti Sunday. See low'*. 
quasi-normal (kwa-si-n6r'mal), n. The har- 
monic conjugate of the tangent to a curve with 
respect to the lines joining its point of contact 
to two fixed points. 
quasi-period (kwa-si-pe'ri-od), n. That con- 
stant which, added to the variable of a quasi- 
periodic function, multiplies the constant by a 
fixed function. 
quasi-periodic (kwa-si-pe-ri-od'ik), a. Noting 
a function such that, when the variable is in- 
creased by a certain fixed amount, it has its 
value multiplied by a fixed function; thus, I* is 
quasi-periodic, because I* + J = I. I*. 
quasi-radiate (kwa-si-ra'di-at), a. In hot., 
slightly radiate : noting the heads of some com- 
posites whose ray-florets are small and incon- 
spicuous. 
quasi-realty (kwa-si-re'al-ti), n. In law, things 
which are fixed in contemplation of law to 
realty, but are movable in themselves, as heir- 
looms, title-deeds, court-rolls, etc. Wharton. 
quasi-tenant (kwa-s!-ten'ant), n. In law, an 
undertenant who is in possession at the deter- 
mination of an original lease, and is permitted 
by the reversioner to hold over. Wharton. 
quasi-trustee (kwa'si-trus-te'), n. In law, a 
person who reaps a benefit from a breach of 
trust, and so becomes answerable as a trustee. 
II linrton. 
quasje, . See coati. 
quassH, r. A Middle English form of quash 1 . 
quass 2 t (kwas), n. Same as kraxs. 
With spiced Meades (wholsome but deer), 
As Meade Obanie and Mead Cherunk, 
And the base Quasse by Pesants drank. 
Pimlyco or Runne Red Cap (1009), quoted in Gifford's Jon- 
[son, VII. 241. 
quassation (kvva-sa'shon), n. [< L. quassa- 
tio(n-), a shaking or beating, < quassare, shake, 
shatter: see quash 1 .] The act of shaking; 
concussion; the state of being shaken. 
Continual contusions, threshing, and quotations. 
Gayton, Notes on Don Quixote, p. 68. 
quassative (kwas'a-tiv), a. [< L. 'quassatus, 
pp. of quassare, shake: see quash 1 .] Tremu- 
lous; easily shaken. 
A Frenchman's heart is more quassative and subject to 
tremor than an Englishman's. 
Middleton, Anything for a Quiet Life, iii. 2. 
Quassia (kwash'iii), n. [NL. (Linnseus, 1763), 
named after Q-uassi or < 'oinxi, a negro slave in 
Surinam, who used its bark as a remedy for 
fever. Quaxsi, Quiissy, or Qwtshy was a common 
name of negroes.] 1. A genus of plants, of 
the order Simarubacete and tribe Simantbete. 
