QUANTITY

(Lat. quant us, how much.) A property of any thing capable of being increased or diminished. Quantity is distinguished into continued and discrete. It is continued when the parts are connected together, and is then called magnitude, which is the object of geometry. It is discrete when the parts have an unconnected and independent existence, forming multitude or number, which is the object of arithmetic. The quantity of matter in any body is proportional conjointly to the magnitude and density of the body, and is measured by its absolute weight. Quantity of motion is used synonymously with momentum, to denote tlie product of the quantity of matter in the moving body by its velocity. Algebraic quantities are the expre ions of indefinite numbers. Quantity. In Prosody, the amount of time in a syllable. Syllables are either short or long; the former being the unit or smallest measure of time, the latter consisting of two times. This distinction is clearly marked in the ancient languages; in which some syllables are nece arily long or short by position, others by the nature of the vowels which they contain; and, in the Latin language, some common, or susceptible of being sounded as long or short, according to certain rules of elegance or convenience. All the metrical system of the ancient languages is founded on quantity. In most modern languages there is, strictly speaking, no quantity, as distinct from emphasis or accent; tlie long syllables being those which receive the arsis, the short those which receive the thesis. In the German language, however, critics have endeavoured to establish a conventional system of quantity, and thus to adapt that language to regular versification in the ancient Greek and Latin metres. See Rhythm, Metre. [s. 1021]