Page:EB1911 - Volume 22.djvu/770

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QUINCE—QUINCY, J.
753

is only known in the form of its keto derivatives (a-quinazolines), results from the fusion of urea with ortho-aminobenzaldehydes and benzophenones, the elements of water and of ammonia being eliminated (S. Gabriel and Th. Posner, Bef., 1895, 28, p. IO37). They possess feeble basic and phenolic characters. The tctra-hydroquinazolines are obtained by reducing the quinazolines and dihydroquinazolines and by condensing ortho-aminobenzylamine with aldehyde's (M. Busch, Jour. prak. Chem., 1896, (2) 53, p. 414). The ring is easily split on hydrolysis, giving rise to ortho-disubstituted benzenes. The keto derivatives of this series result by the action of carbonyl chloride on ortho-aminobenzylamines of the type HgN.C6H4.CH2NHR (M. Busch, Bef., 1892, 25, p. 2853), or from the urea derivatives of ortho-aminobenzylamine. They are weak bases which are indifferent to both acids and alkalis, and which on oxidation yield the corresponding 2.4-diketo derivatives.


QUINCE (Lat. Cydonia or Cotonea, Ital. Cotogno, Fr. coing, Mid. Eng. coin, quin, whence a collective plural “quins, ” corrupted to singular “ quince ”), a fruit-tree concerning which botanists differ as to whether or not it is entitled to take rank as a distinct genus or as a section of the genus Pyrus (natural order Rosaceae, q.v.). It is not a matter of much importance whether we call the quince Pyrus Cydonia or Cyzlonia wzlgaris. For practical purposes it is perhaps better to consider it as distinct from Pyrus, differing from that genus in the twisted manner in which the petals are arranged in the bud, and in the many-celled' ovary, in which the numerous ovules are disposed horizontally, not vertically as in the pears. The quinces are much-branched shrubs or small trees with entire leaves, small stipules, large solitary white or pink flowers like those of a pear or apple, but with leafy cal yx lobes and a many-celled ovary, in each cell of which are numerous horizontal ovules. The common quince is a native of Persia and Anatolia, and perhaps also of Greece and the Crimea, but in these latter localities it is doubtful whether or not the plant is not a relic of former cultivation. By Franchet and Savatier P. C ytlonio is given as a native of Japan with the native name of “~maroumerou.” It is certain that the Greeks knew a common variety upon which they en grafted scions of a better variety which they called rcuotbviov, from Cydon in Crete, whence it was obtained, and from which the later names have been derived. Pliny (H.N. xv. 11) mentions that the fruit of the quince, Molum cotoneum, warded off the influence of the evil eye; and other legends connect it with ancient Greek mythology, as exemplified by statues in which the fruit is represented, as well as by representations on the walls of Pompeii. The fragrance and astringency of the fruit of the quince are well known, and the seeds were formerly used medicinally for the sake of the niucilage they yield when soaked in water, a peculiarity which is not met with in pears. This mucilage is analogous to, and has the same properties as, that which is formed from the seeds of linseed.

The quince is but little cultivated in Great Britain, two or three trees planted in the slip or orchard being in general found to be sufficient for a supply of the fruit; in Scotland it seldom approaches maturity, unless favoured by a wall. The fruit has a powerful odour, but in the raw state is austere and astringent; it, however, makes an excellent preserve, and is often used to give flavour and poignancy to stewed or baked apples.

There are three principal varieties of the quince, the Portugal, the apple-shaped and the pear-shaped. The Portugal is a taller and more vigorous grower than the others, and has larger and finer fruit; the apple-shaped, which has roundish fruit, is more productive, and ripens under less favourable conditions than either of the others; while the pear-shaped has roundish-pyriform fruit, which ripens later than tht of the apple-shaped variety. The quince prefers a rich, light and somewhat moist soil. The tree is generally propagated by cuttings or layers, the former making the best plants, but being longer in growing. It is much used as a dwarfing stock for certain kinds of pears, and for this purpose the young plants when bedded out in the quarters should be shortened back to about 18 or 20 inches; the effect is to restrain the growth oi the pear, increase and hasten its fruitfulness, and enable it to withstand the effects of cold. Those required to form standard fruit-bearing trees should be trained up to a single stem till a height of 5 or 6 feet is attained.

The common Japan quince, Pyrus or Cydonia japonica, is grown m gardens for the sake of its flowers, which vary in colour from creamy white to rich red, and are produced during the winter and early spring months. The fruit is green and fragrant but quite uneatable. C. Maulei, a more recently introduced shrub from japan, bears a profusion of equally beautiful orange-red flowers, which are followed by fruit of a yellow colour and agreeable fragrance, so that, when cooked with sugar, it forms an agreeable conserve, as in the case of the ordinary quince.


QUINCY, JOSIAH (1744-1775), American patriot, son of Josiah Quincy (1709-1784), was born in Boston on the 23rd of February 1744. He was a descendant of Edmund Quincy, who emigrated to Massachusetts in 163 3, and received in 1636 a grant of land at Mount Wollaston, or Merry Mount, afterwards a part of Braintree and now Quincy. He graduated at Harvard in 1763, and studied law in the office of Oxenbridge Thacher (d. 1765), to whose large practice he succeeded. In 1767 Quincy contributed to the Boston Gazette two bold papers, signed “Hyperion, ” declaiming against British oppression; they were followed by a third in September 1768; and on the 12th of February 1770 he published in the Gazette a call to his countrymen to break off all social intercourse “ with those whose commerce contaminates, whose luxuries poison, whose avarice is insatiable, and whose unnatural oppressions are not to be borne.” After the “Boston massacre ” (5th of March 1770) he and John Adams defended Captain Preston and the accused soldiers and secured their acquittal.1 He used the signatures “ Mentor, ” “ Callisthenes, ” “ Marchmont Needham, ” “ Edward Sexby, ” &c., in later letters to the Boston Gazette. He travelled for his health in the South in 1773, and left in his journal an interesting account of his travels and of society in South Carolina; this journey was important in that it brought Southern patriots into closer relations with the popular leaders in Massachusetts. In May 1774 he published Observations on the Act of Parliament, commonly called “ The Boston Port Bill, ” with Thoughts on Civil Society and Standing Armies, in which he urged “patriots and heroes” to “form a compact for opposition-a band for vengeance.” In September 1774 he left for England, where he consulted with leading Whigs as to the political situation in America; on the 16th of March 1775 he started back, but he died on the 26th of April in sight of land. A-See

the Memoir of the Life of Josiah Quincy, Jun., of Massachusetts (Boston, 1825; 2nd ed., 1874), by his son, which contains his more important papers.

His son, Josiah QUINCY (1772-1864), American lawyer and author, was born in Boston on the 4th of February 1772. He studied at Phillips Academy, Andover, graduated at Harvard in 1790, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1793, but was never a prominent advocate He became a leader of the Federalist party in Massachusetts; was an unsuccessful candidate for the national House of Representatives in 1800; served in the Massachusetts Senate in 1804-5; and was a member in 1805-13 of the national House of Representatives, where he was one of the small Federalist minority. He attempted to secure the exemption of fishing vessels from the Embargo Act, urged the strengthening of the American navy, and vigorously opposed the erection of Orleans Territory (Louisiana) into a state in 1811, and stated as his “deliberate opinion, that if this bill passes, the bonds of this Union are virtually dissolved; that the States that compose it are free from their moral obligations to maintain it; and that, as it will be the right of all, so it will be the duty of 'some to prepare definitely for a separation, -amicably if they can, violently if they must.” This is probably “ the first assertion of the right of secession on the floor of Congress.” Quincy left Congress because he saw that the Federalist opposition was useless, and thereafter was a member of the Massachusetts Senate until 1820; in 1821-22 he was a member and speaker of the state House of Representatives, from which he resigned to become judge of the municipal court of Boston. In 1823-28 he was mayor of Boston, and in his term Faneuil Hall Market House was

1His eldest brother, SAMUEL QUINCY (1735-1789), was at this time solicitor-general of Massachusetts, and opened this trial. He remained loyal to the Crown, left Boston in 1776, and was attorney for the Crown in Antigua until his death.