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QUAKING GRASS 394 QUARANTINE versity. He wrote Quain's "Elements of Anatomy." Jones Quain published also a series of elaborate "Anatomical Plates" (1858) and a translation of Martinet's "Pathology" (1835). He died in Lon- don, Jan. 27, 1865. (2) Richard Quain, brother of the above; born in Fermoy, Ireland, in July, 1800, studied at London, and was appointed Professor of Anatomy and Clinical Surgery in Uni- versity College, London, in 1837. He was surgeon-extraordinary to the queen, and elected president of the Royal Col- lege of Surgeons in 1868. Among his works the principal are: "Anatomy of Arteries," with folio plates (1845) ; Some Defects of Medical Education" (1870) ; he edited along with others the fifth edition of (Jones) "Quain's Anat- omy." By his will he left nearly $375,- 000 to University College, London, for the "education in modern languages (especially English) and in natural science." He died in London on Sept. 15, 1887. (3) Sir Richard Quain, Bart., first cousin to both the above, was born in Mallow, Oct. 30, 1816. He was Lumleian lecturer at the Royal College of Physicians ("Diseases of the Muscu- lar Walls of the Heart") in 1872, and Harveian orator ("The Healing Art in its Historic and Prophetic Aspects") in 1885, and was made physician extraordi- nary to the queen. He edited the "Dictionary of Medicine" (1883) ; and contributed to the "London Jour- nal of Medicine," etc. Dr. Quain was made LL.D. of Edinburgh in 1889, president of the General Medical Council in 1891, was created a baronet in 1891, and died March 13, 1898. (4) SiR John Richard Quain; born in Mallow in It 17, the half-brother of Jones and Richard Quain, was made a judge of the Court of Queen's Bench in 1872, and jus- tice of the High Court of Judicature in 1875. He died Sept. 12, 1876. QUAKING GRASS, Briza, a genus of grasses. The species are few and most- ly European. They are all very beauti- ful. B. maxima, a native of the S. of Europe, is often planted in flower gar- dens.^ B. tnedia, the only species com- mon in Great Britain, growing in almost all kinds of poor soil, from the seacoast to an elevation of 1,500 feet, is of some value as a pasture grass, being very nutritious, although the quantity of herbage is scanty. The value of many poor pastures very much depends on it. QUAMASH, the North American name of Camassia esculenta, a plant of the lily family with an edible bulb. These bulbs are much eaten by the Indi- ans, and are prepared by baking in a hole dug in the ground, then pounding and drying them into cakes for future use. QUANTITY, in grammar and prosody, the measure of a syllable or the time in which it is pronounced; the metrical value of syllables as regards length or weight in their pronunciation. In logic, the extent to which the predicate in a proposition is asserted of the subject. In mathematics, anything that can be increased, diminished, and measured. QUARANTINE, the period (originally 40 days) during which a ship coming from a port suspected of contagion, or having a contagious sickness on board, is forbidden intercourse with the place at which she arrives. Quarantine was first introduced at Venice in the 14th century. It is now required to be performed in al- most every important country except Great Britain. By act of the United States Congress passed in 1879, Na- tional quarantine stations were estab- lished; and it is made a misdemeanor punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both, for the master, pilot, or owner of any vessel entering a port of the United States in violation of the act, or regula- tions framed under it. During the period of quarantine, all the goods, cloth- ing, etc., that might be supposed capa- ble of retaining infection, are subjected to a process of disinfection, which is a most important part of the quarantine system. Quarantine has long been considered ineffective against the introduction of disease, besides being a source of much danger to those who were compulsorily detained under the system. The sani- tary ideas of our day favor the safer methods used in England against chol- era. The fate of quarantine in the Brit- ish Islands was determined in 1894 when, in discussion on the Pri'y Council esti- mates objection was made to the cost of maintaining the quarantine establish- ment in the Solent on the ground of its uselessness, and the government prom- ised to abolish the system. As a result the Public Health Act of 1896 was passed, by which yellow fever and the plague are to be dealt with in the same manner as cholera, and regulations made by the Local Government Board will apply equally to the three diseases. In the United States, under the law of March 28, 1890, known as the Interstate Quarantine Act, the supervising sur- geon-general of the Marine Hospital Service is charged with preparing the rules and regulations, under direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, necessary to prevent the introduction of certain contagious diseases from one State to an- other, and he has also supervision of the