Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/155

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QUEENSTOWN QUERETARO 147 AUSTRALIA.) The E. coast of Queensland was discovered by Capt. James Cook, who anchored in Moreton bay in 1770. The country was at first attached to New South Wales, under the name of the Moreton Bay district. In 1823 the Brisbane river was explored by Oxley, the surveyor general of New South Wales, and the site of the city of Brisbane selected for a penal station. In 1825 the first convicts were landed there, and employed in making roads and oth- er public improvements. Convict immigration ceased in 1839, and in 1842 the country was thrown open to free settlers. In 1859, in def- erence to repeated petitions from the settlers, it was erected into an independent colony. QUEENSTOWN, a town of county Cork, Ire- land, on the S. side of Great island, in the harbor and 7 m. E. S. E. of the city of Cork ; pop. in 1871, 10,039. It is built on a steep acclivity, the streets rising one above another parallel to the beach, and the piers forming a fine promenade. A splendid Catholic cathe- dral is in course of erection (1875). The har- bor is 3 m. long by 2 m. broad, with an en- trance 2 m. long and 1 m. wide. It contains Spike island with Fort Westmoreland, artil- lery barracks, and a prison for 800 convicts, who are employed in the fortifications and in constructing a dockyard and basin on the adjoining island of Haulbowline. This island contains a depot for ordnance and victualling stores, and near it is Rocky island, with bar- racks and powder magazines cut out of the rock. Queenstown is the station of the com- manding admiral, of the royal yacht club, and of transatlantic steamers. A vast number of Irish emigrants embark here for the United States, and many passengers land here in pref- erence to Liverpool. Previous to the wars with Napoleon I. it was a small village of fish- ermen; it then became important as a naval station. It was known as the Cove of Cork until 1849, when the name was changed on occasion of Queen Victoria's visit. QUEKETT, John Thomas, an English micrp- scopist, born at Langport, Somersetshire, in 1815, died at Pangbourne, Berkshire, Aug. 20, 1861. He entered London hospital as a stu- dent in 1831, and became a licentiate of the apothecaries' company and member of the roy- al college of surgeons. The latter body having established a studentship of human and com- parative anatomy, he was unanimously elected to it, and in 1843 was appointed assistant con- servator of the Hunterian museum, and on Pro- fessor Owen's retirement in 1856 conservator of the museum and professor of histology. He was chosen a fellow of the royal society in 1860. He published "Practical Treatise on the Use of the Microscope" (8vo, 1848; new ed., 1865) ; " Lectures on Histology " (2 vols. 8vo, 1852-'4); and an "Illustrated Catalogue of Specimens in the College Museum in Lin- coln's Inn Fields." QCELPAERT ISLAND (called by the Japanese Kandozan), an island in the Eastern sea, about 55 m. S. of Corea, and 110 m. W. N. W. of the Goto islands. It is about 45 m. long and 20 m. broad. The soil is volcanic and fertile, good timber abounds, and grazing pastures are extensive. The highest peak reaches an alti- tude of 6,500 ft. The population is consid- erable; villages, each under the control of a chief, being numerous. There are no harbors. Corea claims this island, and uses it as a place for exiles and criminals. QIERARD, Joseph Marie, a French bibliogra- pher, born in Rennes, Dec. 25, 1797, died in Paris, Dec. 3, 1865. He was early connected with the publishing business, and from 1819 to 1824 with an establishment in Vienna. He afterward published in Paris La France lit- teraire (10 vols., 1827-'42), followed by La litterature francaise contemporaine (6 vols., 1842-'57), which was prepared by others from the middle of the second volume, owing to his difficulties with the publisher and to his forfeiture of the copyright. Among his other compilations are Les auteurs deguises de la litterature franfaise au 19* siecle (1845), and Les supercheries litteraires dewilees (5 vols., 1845-'56). QIEKCITRON, a dyestuff, the bark of the black oak, quercus coccinea, var. tinctoria (Q. tinctoria of authors), in some localities called the yellow-barked oak. (See OAK.) The black outer portion of the bark being removed, the inner portion is found to contain a coloring principle which stains the saliva yellow when the bark is chewed ; this is extracted by boil- ing water, giving to it a brownish yellow color, which is deepened by alkalies and brightened by acids. The bark is largely employed in the United States as a dye, and it is also re- duced to a coarse powder and shipped to Eu- rope in great quantities for the same use, par- ticularly in calico printing. When this decoc- tion has been deprived of tannin by means of glue, a fine yellow color is obtained upon fab- rics mordanted with alum, and various shades of olive with iron mordants. The coloring principle is called quercitrine, or from its acid reaction quercitric acid. Black-oak bark is used for tanning also, but its yellow color makes it objectionable. Its astringent and tonic properties have led to its use in medi- cine, but white-oak bark, having similar medi- cal properties without the color, is preferred. QCEBETARO. I. A central state of Mexico, bounded N. by San Luis Potosi, E. by Hidalgo, S. by Mexico, S. W. by Michoacan, and W. by Guanajuato ; area, 3,429 sq. m. ; pop. in 1869, 153,286. It occupies a part of the plateau of the Cordillera, and is traversed by numerous mountain spurs, but contains much fertile land. The rivers are all small, and the Rio de Mon- tezuma and Lerma, on the frontiers, are the only streams that deserve notice. Gold, sil- ver, copper, quicksilver, tin, lead, and antimony are found. Grain, tobacco, and the sugar cane are extensively cultivated ; cotton is grown in some districts; and considerable numbers