QUARTERSTAFF 396 QUATREMi^RE DE QTJIiTCY sions, when the sentence is of a nature subject to review. QUARTERSTAFF, a stout staff used as a weapon of offense or defense. It was generally about 6% feet long, and loaded with iron at each end. QUARTET, a piece of music arranged for four voices or instruments, in which all the parts are obligati; i. e., no one can be omitted vdthout injuring the proper effect of the composition. Quar- tets for stringed instruments are gener- ally arranged for two violins, a cello, qnd violoncello. QUARTO, name of the size of a book in which a sheet makes four leaves. Frequently abbreviated to 4to. Also a book formed by folding a sheet twice, making four leaves, eight pages. The term, by modern usage, refers to a book of nearly square form. QUARTZ, in mineralogy, a rhombo- hedral or hexagonal mineral, crystalliz- ing mostly in hexagonal prisms with pyramidal terminations. Quartz is abun- dantly distributed, is an essential con- stituent of many rocks, notably granite, gneiss, various schists, and constitutes the larger part of mineral veins. Many of its varieties are largely employed in jewelry. QUARTZ ROCK, the name applied to all rocks consisting essentially of mas- sive quartz. QUASIMODO, in the Roman calendar, a term applied to the first Sunday after Easter, from the opening words of the introit for that day, "quasi modo geniti infantes"=as (infants) lately (born). QUASSIA, in botany the typical genus of the order Sim-arubacea;. Q. amara is a tree cultivated in the West Indies and the parts adjacent. In pathology, the Surinam quassia is Q. amara; Ja- maica quassia, the wood of Picrsena ex- celsa. It comes to this country in logs or billets, and is retailed as chips or raspings. It is given as an extract, an infusion, or a tincture, and acts as a pure bitter and stomachic, and as an antiperiodic. QUATERNARY, or POST-TERTI- A.RY, the fourth great division of the fossiliferous strata, which embraces the Pleistocene or Glacial and Post-glacial and Recent systems. QUATERNION, in mathematics, the metrographic relation existing between any two right lines, having definite lengths and directions in space, depend- ing on four irreducible geometrical elements. QUATHLAMBA MOUNTAINS, a range in South Africa, forming the W. boundary of Zululand and Natal; also called the Drakensberg Mountains. QUATRE-BRAS, a village of Belgium; about 10 miles S. S. E. of Waterloo; at the intersection of the great roads from Brussels to Charleroi, and from Nivelles to Namur, whence its name ("four arms"). On June 16, 1815, two days before the battle of Waterloo, Quatre- Bras was the scene of a desperate bat- tle between the English under Welling- ton and the French under Ney. The honors of the field remained with the for- mer; but the severe defeat of Bliicher the same day at Ligny compelled Wel- lington to retreat. The loss on the Eng- lish side was 5,200, on the French 4,140, among the allies being the Duke of Brunswick, the gallant chief of the Black Brunswickers. A monument to his memory, a bronze lion 10% feet high, was erected in 1890. QUATREFAGES, JEAN LOUIS ARM AND DE, a French naturalist; born in Berthezeme, France, Feb. 10, 1810; studied medicine at Strassburg, and in 1838 was appointed Professor of Zoology at Toulouse. But this post he soon resigned and went to Paris. In 1850 he was elected Professor of Natural History in the "Lycee Napoleon," and in 1855 of Anatomy and Ethnology at the Natural History Museum in Paris. He devoted his attention principally to an- thropology and the lower animals. His chief works are: "The Human Species" (1877); "Memoirs of a Naturalist" (1854) ; "Unity of the Human Species" (1861) ; "The Prussian Race" (1879) ; "The Pygmies" (1887); "Darwin and His French Forerunners" (1892) ; and "Transformist Theories" (1892). He died Jan. 13, 1892. See Anthropology. QUATREFOIL, in architecture, a piercing or panel divided by cusps or foliations into four leaves, or more cor- rectly the leaf-shaped figure formed by the cusps. The name is also given to flowers and leaves of a similar form carved as ornaments on moldings, etc. In heraldry, four-leaved grass; a fre- quent bearing in coat-armor. QUATREMERE DE QUINCY, AN- TOINE CHRYSOSTOME, a French archjeologist; born in Paris, Oct. 28, 1755; held political offices under the re- public, consulate, empire, and restora- tion, and in 1818 became Professor of Archjeology in the Royal Library. His works include: "Dictionary of Archi- tecture," "Imitation in the Fine Arts," and lives of Raphael, Canova, and Michael Angelo. He died Dec. 8, 1849.
