Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/340

 Q^U I

Q^U I

rience has mewed thefe to be idle opinions, and it is now- gathered at ail times if the weather be dry. When the bark is taken off, it is laid in the fun till perfectly dry ; the omit- ing this circumitar.ee, and packing up the bark while moift, has occafioned it often to become mouldy, and fpoil, and the merchants have attributed this to the taking it off in a wrong time of the moon, when it was wholly owing to its being put into the fkins while too moift

The leaves of the quinquina-Use fraud on pedicles of about half an inch long : they are very fmooth and glofly, and of a beautiful green ; but fomewhat paler on the under fide than the upper. They are perfectly fmooth at the edges, and are of an oblong figure, pointed at the end, and rounded at that part which joins to the ftalk. They are from two and an half to three inches in length, and from an inch and an half to two inches in breadth. The middle rib of the leaf is rounded on the upper fide, and is ufually of a reddifh colour, efpecially towards the pedicle; and the whole leaf often becomes red, when perfectly mature. All the fmall branches towards the top of the tree terminate in one or more duffers of flowers, which, before they are open, refemble in their fhape and their bluifh grey colour, thofe of the common lavender. Mem Acad. Scienc. Par. 1738.

When thefe open, they change their colour : each ftalk that fuftains one of thefe clufiers of flowers arifes from the ala of one of the leaves, and divides into a great number of fmall branches, each of which is terminated by a cup divided into five parts, which fuftains a flower refembling that of the hya- cinth. It ii competed of a pipe of three quarters of an inch long, which at the end is divided into five, and fometimes into fix fegments. Thefe are of a beautiful deep red within, and are ferrated round the edges in a very elegant manner. From the bottom of the tube of the flower there arifes a white piftil, terminated by a Jong green head ; this arifes above the level of the fegments of the flower, and is furrounded by five ftamina, which fuftain apices of a pale yellow colour : thefe remain hid within the flowers. The tube is of a dirty red, and is covered with a fort of whitifh down. When the flower is fallen, the cup fwells in the middle into the form of an olive, which by degrees grows into a fruit divided into two cells, which in drying become fhorter, and the whole fruit rounder than in its natural condition.

This fruit finally opens longitudinally into two capfules, fepa- rated by a membranaceous feptum, and coated by a thin yel- lowifh (kin ; the feeds are of a reddifh colour, and in fhape are flattifh, and, as it were, foliaceous ; they are not more than a twentieth part of an inch in diameter, and are thickeft in the middle, becoming thinner at each fide. The plantula feminalis lies in the very center of the feed, between two pel- licles : thefe feeds, which refemble in fome degree thofe of the afh in miniature, are fattened in the manner of fo many fcales to a placenta of an oblong figure, pointed at the two ex- tremities, fo as fomewhat to refemble a feed of the common oat, but that it is longer and flatter. This is joined to the feptum, and has on that part a longitudinal furrow; but on the other fide is convex, and fomewhat rough all over. Mem. Acad. Scienc. Par. r 738.

By this defcription it appeals, that they were very ignorant of the nature and characters of this tree, who, in its firft know- ledge among us, called it a fpecies of febeften. - The ufe of this febrifuge teems to hive been very long known to the natives, and their manner of taking it was by pound- ing the bark, and laying it to infufe in water, and drinking the infufion; their hatred to the Spaniards, their conquerors, made them keep it a long time a fecret from them ; and when the thing became known among the inhabitants of Loxa, it ftiil remained a fecret to the reft of the world, and its great value was never generally known till the year 16 (j ; when the lady of the viceroy of Peru, the countefs de Chinchon, being long ill of an intermittent fever, which would give way to none of the known remedies, the corregidor of Loxa fent to the vice- roy a quantity of the quinquina bark, which he affiired him would cure the lady, tho' all other means had failed. Upon this the corregidor was fent for to Lima, and after having gi- ven the medicine to many other perfons with fafety and fuc- cefs, the lady at length took it, and was cured. She imme- diately on this fent for a large quantity of the bark, had it powdered, and herfelf difperfed it to thofe who had occafion for it ; whence it obtained the name of the amntefs's powder : but this lady being toon tired of the office, gave it in charge to the jefuits ; and they continuing to give it to the fick with the fame fuccefs, it then was called the jefuits powder. Thefe reverend fathers foon found means to fend a quantity of it to Cardinal Lugo, who difperfed it with the fame fuccefs at Rome; and after him the apothecary to the college gave it gratis to the poor with the fame good effects, and under the name of ti e jefuits or the cardinal's powder : afterwards the better fort were made to pay its weight in filver for it, to defray the expences of its importation, while the poor ftill had it gratis. ^ Lewis XIV. at that time dauphin of France, was cur- ed by it of a fever which had not given way to other medi- cines. v In the year 1640, the count and countefs of Chinchon beine returned to Spain, their phyfician, Juan de Vega, who brought

a great quantity of it over with him, fold it at a confiderable price; and foon after this, large quantities were fent over by the galleons, but the great demands from Europe caufint* the inhabitants of Loxa to adulterate it with other barks, it had like to have loft part of jts juft praife. The quinquina-trees are found at this time on all that chain of mountains adjoining toCajanuma, and in many other parts of America. QUINTAIN, (Cycl.) the name of an old Englifh fport, intended for a trial of the agility of men on horfeback. It is loft in many parts of the kingdom, but was ftill in ufe at Deddin<*- ton, in Oxfordfhire, in the time of Dr. Plot. The method of performing it is this :

They firft fet up a poft perpendicularly in the ground, and then place a {lender piece of timber on the top of it, on a fpindle, with a board nailed to it at one end, and a bag of fand at the other. Againtt this board they antiently rode with fpeats, but afterwards only with ftaves, which violently brought about the bag of fand ; fo that if they did not make good fpeed away, it (truck them on the neck or fhoulders, and fometimes knocked them down. The great point aimed at was always the break- ing of the board, and he that did that, was accounted the greateft matter.

It feems to have had its name from the Latin quintal, fifth, as one of the antient fports ufed every fifth year among the Olympian games ; or becaufe it was the fport of the fifth or laft day of thefe games. Plot's Oxford, p. 204.

QUINTESSENCE (Cycl.)— Quintessence cf wine, a term ufed by Glauber to exprefs an eflential oil of wine, which he directs to be made by a careful diftillation, and which he is very fond of, as having a power to meliorate, improve, and even to fpecificate the poorer wines into the nature of thofe from which it was obtained.

This is one of the fchemes of Glauber, generally eftcemed an impracticable one, tho' very plaufible in theory ; but tho' in general there is a difagreeable flavour in the quinteffaice drawn after his method, which is different from the true flavour of the wine, and fpoils the liquor it is added to ; yet by proper care there is a poflibility of fucceeding fo far as to render this extraneous flavour almoft imperceptible, and produce an oil that will mend poor wines extremely, and give a truly vinous flavour to fuch as are in themfelves taftelefs : but whatever may be done by this method, may alfo be done with much more certainty, and much lefs trouble, by the concentration of wines by freezing. This may be eafily pra£tifed in the wine countries ; and by this means Burgundy, Champaign, and other the moft valuable wines, may be reduced into thick extracts and robs, by the means of which wines may be made in England ; a very fmall quantity of thefe concentrated wines being fufficient to convert the whole of any of the poor tafte- lefs and.infipid wines, which are of themfelves of little or no value, into the very wine from which the rob was made, and that in fuch perfection, that the niceft judge cannot find out the difference.

Thefe robs of wine made and preferred 1 upon the fpot, would alfo be of infinite ufe in the wine countries, as they might be kept to improve the wines of bad years. Stab!, de Concentr Vin. Shaw's Chem. Eft

QUINTUS fennris, in anatomy, a name given by Fallopius and many others to one of the mufcles of the thigh, now called thepfoas magnus. See Psoas.

Quintus oculorum, in anatomy, a name given by Vefalius and fome others to one of the mufcles of the eyes, more ex- preffively called by others olliquus jupcriar cculi, and opifex cir- cumgyrationis oeuli.

QUINVA, in botany, a name by which fome authors have call- ed the amaranth, or cockfeomb. Morifin, Hift. Vol. li. p. 602.

QUINZY, or Angina (Cycl.)— This is defined by medical writers to be an inflammatory ftafis of the blood about the throat, in which nature feems to have aimed at the dilcharg- ing part of the load of a plethora, either by an hemorrhage of thenofe, or by fpitting of blood; but effefling neither, the quinzy is produced.

Authors have divided the quinzy in general into two kinds, the true and the fpurious The true quinzy is that in which the tumor is internal, and is attended with a fever. The fpuri- ous is that in which the tumor fhews itfelf more outwardly, and is not attended with a fever.

The antients alfo divided the quinzy into four other kinds, which they called by as many names.

1. The cyimncbe. In this the tumor neither manifefts itfelf outwardly nor inwardly, but is attended with a very violent fever.

2. The paracynancbe. This was the name given it when the tumor appeared externally in the mufcles of the larynx, and was highly inflammatory.

3. Thefynancbe In this kind the tumor appears externally alfo, and there is a lefs difficulty of breathing ; but a greater of fwallowing than in the other kinds.

4. The parafynancbe. This name denoted an inflammation of the mufcles of the pharynx, attended with a fever.

We at this time diftinguifh alfo the quinzy into the idiopa- thic and fymptomatic. The firft, where it is itfelf the difeafe, and owes its origin only to a plethora. The fecond, where it