QUl 
in dying as a substitute for galls. See 
Galls. 
Q. suber, cork-barked oak, or cork tree : 
•there are two or three varieties of this 
species, one witli a broad leaf, a second 
with a narrow leaf, both evergreen; and 
one or two which cast their leaves in aii- 
tiinin ; the broad leaved ever-green is the 
most common; the leaves of this are entire, 
about two inches long, and an inch and 
quarter broad, with a little down on their 
under sides, on short footstalks ; these leaves 
continue green through the winter till May, 
w'hen they generally fall off just before the 
new leaves come out ; the acorns are very 
like those of the common oak. The ex- 
terior bark is the cork, which is taken from 
the tree evei'y eight or ten years ; there is 
an interior bark which nourishes them, so 
that stripping off the outer bark is so far from 
injuring the trees, that it is necessary to 
continue them ; for when the bark is not 
taken off, they seldom last longer than fifty 
or sixty years in health, whereas trees which 
are barked every eight or ten years will live 
one hundred and fifty years, or more. 
The uses of the cork are well known 
both by sea and land ; the poor people in 
Spain lay broad planks of it by their bed- 
side to tread on, as great persons useTurkey 
and Persian carpets, to defend, them from 
the floor; they frequently line the walls 
and inside of their houses, built of stone, 
with this bark, which renders them warm, 
and corrects the moisture of the air. This 
tree is a native of the South of Europe. 
QUERIA, in botany, so named from 
Joseph Quer, Professor of Botany at Ma- 
drid, a gelius of the Triandria Trigynia class 
and order. Natural order of Caryophyllei. 
Caryophylleae, Jussieu. Essential charac- 
ter : calyx five-leaved ; corolla none ; cap- 
sule one-celled ; seed one. There are three 
species. 
QUICKSILVER. See Mercury. 
QUILLS, are the large feathers taken 
out of the end of the wings of geese, os- 
striches, crows, &c. They are denominated 
from the order in which they are fixed in 
the wing ; the second and third quills being 
the best for writing, as they have the largest 
and roundest barrels. Crow quills are 
chiefly used for drawing. In order to har- 
den a quill that is soft, thrust the barrel into 
hot ashes, stirring it till it is soft, and then 
taking it out, press it almost flat upon your 
knee with the back of a penknife, and after- 
wards reduce it to a roundness with your 
fingers. Another method to harden quills 
QUI 
is by setting water and alum over the fire, 
and wliile it is boiling put in a handful of 
quills, the barrels only, for a minute, and 
then lay tliem by. , Large quantities of 
quills are yearly imported in Britain from 
Germany and Holland. The goodness of 
quills is judged by the size of the barrels, 
but particularly by the weight ; hence the 
denomination of quills of fourteen, fifteen, 
&c. loths ; viz. the thousand consisting of 
twelve hundred quills, weighing fourteen, 
fifteen, &c. loths. The loth is a German 
weight, weighing something more than an 
ounce. Particular attention should be 
paid, on purchasing quills, that they may 
not be left-handed, that is, not out of the 
left wing. 
QUILTING, a method of sewing two 
pieces of silk, linen, or stuff on each other, 
with wool or cotton between them; by 
working them all over in the form of chequer 
or diamond-work, or in flowers. The same 
name is also given to the stuff so worked. 
QUINCHAMALA, in botany, a genus 
of the Pentandria Monogynia class and 
order. Natural order of Elmagni, Jussieu. 
Essential character: calyx inferior, five- 
toothed; corolla tubular, superior ; anthers 
sessile ; seed one. There is only one species ; 
viz. Q. chilensis, a native of Chili. 
QUINCUNX order, in gardening, a plan- 
tation oftrees,disposed originally in a square ; 
and consisting of five trees, one at each 
corner, and a fifth in the middle : or a quin- 
cunx is the figure of a plantation of trees, 
disposed in several rows, both length and 
breadtliwise, in such a manner, that the first 
tree in the second row commences in the 
centre of the square formed by the two first 
trees in the first row, and the two first in 
the third, resembling the figure of the five 
on cards. 
QUINDECAGON, in geometry, a plain 
figure with fifteen sides and fifteen angles ; 
which, if the sides be all equal, is termed a 
regular quindecagon, and irregular when 
otherwise. The side of a regular quindeca- 
gon inscribed in a circle, is equal in power 
to the half difference between the side of 
the equilateral triangle and the side of the 
pentagon, inscribed in the same circle ; also 
the difference of the perpendiculars let fall 
on both sides, taken together. 
QUINTESSENCE, properly the fifth 
essence, or the result of five successive dis- 
tillations. The term is now obsolete; but 
was formerly used to express the highest 
degree of rectification to which any sub- 
stance can be brought. 
