QUERÉTARO-ARTEAGA, a central state of Mexico, bounded N. by San Luis Potosí, E. by Hidalgo, S.E. by the state of Mexico, S. by Michoacan and W. by Guanajuato; area, 3556 sq. m. Pop. (1900) 232,389, largely Indian. The state belongs to the elevated plateau region, with its semi-arid conditions. The N. part of the state is traversed from E. to W. by the wooded Sierra Gorda, whose spurs reach southward to the central districts. The central and S. parts are covered by plains, broken by low hills. The rivers are small and flow chiefly to the San Juan, a part of the Panuco drainage basin. There are some small lakes and swamps and a number of mineral springs. Sugar, cotton, Indian corn, beans and considerable quantities of wheat are grown, but agriculture is largely hampered by the uncertainty of the rainfall. The chief wealth of the state is in its mines. Silver, gold, copper, mercury, lead, tin, antimony and precious stones are found, in some cases in very rich deposits. The richest mining districts are those of Cadereyta and Tolimán, where there are metallurgical works for the reduction of ores. The Mexican Central and Mexican National railways cross the S. end of the state and afford transportation facilities for the agricultural districts, but the mining districts of the N. are still dependent upon old methods. The capital of the state is the historic city of Querétaro (q.v.), and other important towns, with their populations in 1900, are: San Juan del Rio (8124), Landa (about 7000), Ahuacatlan (5929 in 1895), Jalpan (about 6000), and Tolimán, celebrated for its opals.
QUERFURT, a town of Germany, in the province of Prussian Saxony, situated in a fertile country on the Querne, 18 m. W. from Merseburg, on a branch line from Oberröblingen. Pop. (1905) 4884. Its chief industries are sugar-refining, lime-burning and brewing. Querfurt was for some time the capital of a principality which had an area of nearly 200 sq. m. and a population of about 20,000. The ruling family having become extinct in 1496, it passed to that of Mansfeld. In 1635, by the peace of Prague, it was ceded to the elector of Saxony, John George I., who handed it over to his son Augustus of Saxe-Weissenfels; but in 1746 it was again united with electoral Saxony. It was incorporated with Prussia in 1815.
See Schneider, Querfurter Stadt- und Kreischronik (Querfurt, 1902).
QUERN, the primitive form of hand-mill for grinding corn, consisting of two flat circular stones; the lower stone, often shaped with a rim, has a wooden or metal pin in the centre which passes through a hole in the upper stone; the worker pours the grain through the hole with one hand, revolving the upper stone with the other by means of a peg fixed to one side. The Old English word is cweorn; it is a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Du. kweern, Swed. qvarn and various forms in Old German; cognate words are found in Slavonic languages pointing to a pre-Aryan root. It is not related to “churn.” (See Flour.)
QUESADA Y MATHEUS, JENARO DE (1818-1889), 1st Marquis of Miravalles, Spanish soldier, was born at Santander, on the 6th of February 1818. He was a son of General Vicente Quesada, a Conservative officer who was murdered and atrociously mutilated in the streets of Madrid by a revolutionary mob in the early days of Queen Isabella's reign. As Quesada belonged to an ancient family connected with the dukes of Fernan Nunez, he was made a cornet when only six years old, was educated at the seminary for nobles and in 1833 was promoted lieutenant in the 1st Foot Guards. He served from 1833 to 1836 against the Carlists. When his father was assassinated in 1836 he resigned, went to France, got employment in a merchant's office and was only induced to return to the army in 1837 by his relatives, who got him a company in the guards. He distinguished himself often in the Carlist war, but his promotion was slow, and he declined to have anything to do with politics. He confined himself to his duties as a soldier, always fighting on the side of governments against Carlist, Republican and Progressist risings. He only became a general of division in 1853, and at the head of the Madrid garrison he fought hard in 1854 to avert the triumph of Espartero, O'Donnell and Dulce, who publicly recognized his gallant conduct. When the war in Morocco broke out, Marshal O'Donnell gave Quesada the command of a division, which played so conspicuous a part in that campaign and at the battle of Wad el Ras that its commander was made lieutenant-general and grand cross of Charles III. He was director-general of the Civil Guard when the military rebellion of the 22nd of June 1866 broke out in Madrid, and after he had been wounded in the leg he remained at the head of the loyal troops until the insurgents were crushed. He did not accept any military post during the revolution until Marshal Serrano in 1874 offered, him the direction of the staif, and he only accepted it after clearly stating that he was a royalist and partisan of Alfonso XII. In his long and brilliant career he never swerved from his steadfast resolve never to be mixed up in any political or military intrigues or pronunciamientos—to use his own words, “not even to restore my king.” As soon as the king was restored, the government of Señor Canovas made Quesada first general-in-chief of the army of Central Spain, and in February 1875 general-in-chief of the army of the North. With the assistance of another officer who also had never dabbled in pronunciamientos, General O'Ryan, Quesada restored discipline in the armies confronting Don Carlos, and for twelve months concerted and conducted the operations that forced the pretender to retire into France and his followers to lay down their arms. The government confided to the marquis of Miravalles the difficult task of ruling the northern provinces for several years after the war, and he succeeded in conciliating the sympathies of the Basques and Navarrese, though the penalty of their last rising had been the loss of most of their ancient liberties or fueros. Quesada was made marquis of Miravalles, grandee after the war, minister of war in 1883 and senator. Though he was a strict, stern disciplinarian of the old school and an unflinching Conservative, Catholic and royalist, even his political and military opponents respected him, and were proud of him as an unblemished type of the Castilian soldier and gentleman. He died at Madrid on the 19th of January 1889, and was given full military honours.
QUESNAY, FRANÇOIS (1694-1774), French economist, was born at Mérey, near Paris, on the 4th of June 1694, the son of an advocate and small landed proprietor. Apprenticed at the age of sixteen to a surgeon, he soon went to Paris, studied medicine and surgery there, and, having qualified as a master-surgeon, settled down to practice at Mantes. In 1737 he was appointed perpetual secretary of the academy of surgery founded by François la Peyronie, and became surgeon in ordinary to the king. In 1744 he graduated as a doctor of medicine; he became physician in ordinary to the king, and afterwards his first consulting physician, and was installed in the palace of Versailles. His apartments were on the entresol, whence the Réunions de l'entresol received their name. Louis XV. esteemed Quesnay much, and used to call him his thinker; when he ennobled him he gave him for arms three flowers of the pansy (pensée), with the motto Propter excogitationem mentis.
He now devoted himself principally to economic studies, taking no part in the court intrigues which were perpetually going on around him. About the year 1750 he became acquainted with Jean C. M. V. de Gournay (1712-1759), who was also an earnest inquirer in the economic field; and round these two distinguished men was gradually formed the philosophic sect of the Économistes, or, as for distinction's sake they were afterwards called, the Physiocrates. The most remarkable men in this group of disciples were the elder Mirabeau (author of L'Ami des hommes, 1756-60, and Philosophie rurale, 1763), Nicolas Baudeau (Introduction à la philosophie économique, 1771), G. F. Le Trosne (De l'ordre social, 1777), André Morellet (best known by his controversy with Galiani on the freedom of the corn trade), Mercier Larivière and Dupont de Nemours. Adam Smith, during his stay on the continent with the young duke of Buccleuch in 1764-66, spent some time in Paris, where he made the acquaintance of
