McGill University Theses and dissertations published in 1947

The recent advances in the surgical correction of some of the congenital heart defects have made the more accurate diagnosis of congenital heart disease a matter of considerable practical importance. The method of heart catheterization, which has been used extensively by a number of workers in the study of many cardiovascular problems, has recently been adapted to the investigation of congenital heart disease. The present report is based upon the study of 17 children with congenital heart disease in which this approach has been employed. [...]  Read more

A very wide variety of techniques has been employed in the study of the physical adsorption of vapours on solids. Since the work to be described here concerns attempts to use yet another, practically untried, technique which must be evaluated in terms of those which have been more extensively tested, it seems appropriate to discuss briefly some of the more common experimental methods, the results obtained, and some of the views generally held about the significance of the results.[...]  Read more

The St. Charles titaniferous magnetite deposits lie on the north shore of the Saguenay River, fifteen miles downstream from Lake St. John, on lots 44-48, Bourget township, Chicoutimi County. The location of the area is shown on Fig. 1, and the relation of the apatite-rich body, to the rest of the deposit is shown on Fig. 3. Fig. 4 shows the detail of the apatite-rich bodies from which samples were obtained. The first published reference to the St. Charles deposits is by Abbe Laflanune. The exposures along the river bank were mapped by Dulieux in 1912, and further examination of …  Read more

[...] The data outlined in the foregoing paragraphs clearly show that the functional characteristics of the potentials recorded from the intracranial portion of the auditory nerve differ in several significant aspects from those of the potentials obtained from the cochlea. Nevertheless, a few observations contradictory to the hypothesis that the Wever and Bray phenomenon involves a non-neural component must now be considered and explained. [...]  Read more

Giant Yellowknife Gold Mines, Ltd., was incorporated in 1937 to develop the Giant group of claims staked two years previously on the northwest side of Yellowknife Bay, Great Slave Lake, within predominately volcanic rocks forming the basal assemblage of the Yellowknife Group (Figure 1). Preliminary exploration revealed a number of gold-bearing shear zones and irregular gold-quartz veins. From some of the latter a total of 647 ounces of gold were produced prior to 1941. In that year control of the Company was acquired by Frobisher Exploration Company, whose geologist, A.S.Dadson, advanced the suggestion that the valley of Baker Creek which …  Read more

The carrot (Daucus carota, Linn.) is a native of Europe, Asia and Northern Africa and possibly North and South America. Authors seem to disagree as to the place where the horticultural improvement of the species began. Bailey (1944) attributes it to Holland while Coulter (1941) says that the transition of the wild carrot to the garden form took place in France. Though there are some rather hazy indications that a form of carrot may have been known to man in remote antiquity, for practical purposes the garden type is to be regarded as one of the comparatively later developed species …  Read more

study of Shakespeare1s influence on Dryden, it is necessary to consider the differences between the literary values of the two periods in which these leading poets wrote. Furthermore, if the differences are to be explained, the intervening; periods must also be considered so that the student may understand the changes in dramatic standards. It is artificial to make rigid demarcations between periods in modern English literary history, for taste is ever changing. Many writers, however, uphold the hypothesis that at the Restoration a whole new set of values was abruptly introduced into England from abroad.[...]  Read more

This work represents the first comprehensive investigation of biochemical changes in military casualties as seen prior to operation in forward areas. The study includes investigation of a wide variety of blood components, data for which were previously available only as isolated findings. It has been shown that there is a close relationship between the peripheral venous oxygen saturation and the clinical condition of the patient. The use of observations on the character of the peripheral veins as a criterion in the clinical assessment of casualties, has been demonstrated to have a metabolic basis. The crucial condition of peripheral oxygen supply …  Read more

En juin 1821, Beyle quitte brusquement Milan qu’il habité depuis sept ans. Il s’est compromis par des paroles imprudentes en matière politique et le gouvernement autrichien, le croyant affilié à la secte des Carbonari, lui intime l’ordre de vider les lieux. Stendhal se voit donc obligé d’abandonner la ville de son coeur, celle qu’il découvrit avec ravissement lors de sa première campagne dans l’armée de Napoléon, celle qui ouvrit les portes à ses premiers plaisirs, à ses premières amours, à ses jouissances artistiques en musique et en peinture, celle surtout où il rencontra la divine Métilde, qui occupa ses pensées …  Read more

The members of the class Hydrozoa are the only coelenterates that are really diploblastic (Hyman ‘4o). The general body plan, polyp and medusa alike, consists of an outer epidermis and an inner gastrodermis, separated from each other by a thin non-cellular mesolamella. The epidermis is derived from the embryonic ectoderm,while the gastrodermis is formed of the endoderm. Whether the sexual products originate from any particular layer, or whether there exists a sexual polarity between the two layers, has long attracted the attention of zoologists since the enunciation of von Baer’s germ-layer theory. Many papers have dealt with the topographical origin …  Read more

A new physical technique for measuring carbon dioxide concentrationwas developed by Dingle and Pryce in 1941 (1). Thedevelopment of this technique and its application to some plantphysiological problems is reported in this thesis•Being exploratory in nature the thesis is necessarily somewhatdiffuse and disjointed* It is divided into the followingsections, united however by a common themei1. A description of the apparatus including modificationswhich have been made in it,ana an analysis of its capacitiesand potentialities*2. Exemplification of its physiological use by means ofa series of studies, not closely connected in subject matter,but selected because they illustrate the peculiarvalue of the technique for …  Read more

The control of apple pests In Nova Scotia has developed into an arduous and expensive process [...] The study of the effects of the spray program on the natural control of oystershell scale which forms the basis of this thesis is in turn a part of the whole general ecological approach to the study of orchard pests in Nova Scotia. During the course of these experiments it became very evident that time and space are two very important factors to be considered in the investigation of orchard insect problems. The spray program which has been followed in an orchard in …  Read more

A cold cathode proton source operating at about 300 volts and a pressure of a few microns is described. The discharge is essentially similar to that of a Philips vacuum gauge. The characteristics of the discharge, the ion extraction and the proton production have been investigated. The addition of 10% of oxygen to the hydrogen increased the proton content of the ion beam from 10% to 50% while introducing only about 1% of oxygen and other foreign ions. The ionization processes are discussed.  Read more

Smith in 1899 (99) recognized the xylem inhabiting nature of parasites causing wilt diseases of cotton, watermelon and cowpea. A great many similar diseases of dicotyledonous plants have since been found attributable to fungi that are largely confined to the xylem vessels, and the condition produced referred to as a ‘vascular mycosis’. Bewley (8), who thought that these fungi interfered with the normal water relations of the plant, was the first to suggest that the term ‘hadromycosis’, used throughout this work, be applied. Six theories have been evolved to explain the mechanism by which hadromycotic fungi cause wilting. [...] The …  Read more

The annual production of wheat germ, as such, in the United States is estimated to be 30 to 50 million pounds. However, the present milling yield of about 0.5 per cent indicates a potential production of about 150 million pounds of germ (1). The wheat kernel is reported (2) to contain 2.2 - 3.0 per cent of germ, and, therefore, it is possible that, in the future, the milling yield and hence the potential production of wheat germ may be greatly increased. For Canada, assuming an annual production of 350 million bushels of wheat and a yield of only 0.5 …  Read more

The colonies of North America have furnished endless sources of research material for historians, biographers, sociologists, economists, educationalists, and countless numbers of novelists. It is a rich field, as yet unexhausted by the pens of ardent students of its past. New Brunswick, one of the older colonies, offers vast opportunities to those who would delve into its background. Vibrant with the tales of exploration, adventure, political implications, expansion, interesting personalities, and culture, its story has intrigued the curiosity of men and women throughout the last century and a quarter. The publication of the first history of New Brunswick in 1825 …  Read more

The necessity of choosing a theme for this report even before the experimental work was begun made it appear advisable to choose a relatively all inclusive title which would embrace all phases of any experimental work which might be carried out. Any attempt to investigate all of the factors affecting the thyroid gland and body metabolism in the space of one year would, of course, be impossible and we have centered our interest on a study of certain antithyroid and metabolo-depressant drugs, and, in order that the action of these drugs might be more efficiently investigated, certain environmental influences which …  Read more

Before the recent war, there was abroad a belief that because of the scientific development of weapons of destruction, the ordinary fighting man would play an increasingly smaller part in any future war. This, along with many other superficial judgements, was proved to be a fallacy by the campaigns of the war of 1939-1945. Although, in the early years of the war, there was a school of thought which disparaged the experiences and methods of the war of 1914-1918, it later became apparent to some that there were many similarities between this so-called modern war and the previous world struggle. …  Read more

It has long been known that fats and oils develop rancidity when exposed to the air. Atmospheric oxygen attacks the unsaturated triglyceride molecules with the formation of many oxidation products, among which peroxidic and carbonyl compounds are the most important. This deterioration of the fat results in the production of off-flavours and odours which render the fat unpalatable. Many chemical tests have been employed for the detection of rancidity which depend on the presence of these compounds. Recently a very sensitive method has been developed based on the oxidation of ferrous iron to ferric by the peroxides present in an …  Read more

Les livres de M. Georges Duhamel ont eu du succès en France et à l’étranger, et un grand nombre de ses livres publies avant 1937 avaient été traduits en anglais. “Le Notaire du Havre”, le premier de la série des Pasquier, a été traduit pendant la même année (1934) en Angleterre par Beatrice de Holthoir, et publie par J.M, Dent & Sons, London, sous le titre de “News from Havre”, et aussi aux Etats-Unis par Samuel Putman, publie par Harper Bros, New York et intitule “Papa Pasquier”. Ce sont ces deux traductions qui font l’objet de cette étude. Ce livre …  Read more

Throughout the apple growing areas in the Annapolis Valley, N. S. there has been, over the past years, an increase in the number of sprays applied to apple trees; together with this there has developed a steady increase in the complexity of the pest problem. Fruit growers now find that the keen competition in the markets available to them, together with the high cost of pest control, necessitates that no further increase in the cost of spraying take place and it is desirable that it be decreased. It was with these facts in mind that the staff of the Dominion …  Read more

The practical and theoretical importance of membrane phenomena has long been recognized. The study of the passage of material into and out of living cells, and experimental techniques such as ultrafiltration and dialysis have long required the use of membranes. More recently, an intensive search has been in progress for membranes suitable for determination of molecular weights of high polymers by osmotic pressure measurements. The subject of this investigation Is the cellophane membrane. This material has been used as a membrane in osmotic pressure determinations of high molecular weight materials in organic solvents. The treatment of the cellophane and its …  Read more

Prediction is one of the main objectives of scienoe, though this is not its sole aim nor, necessarily, the most important one. In any case, all sciences aspire to this refinement. In Psychology* however, prediction is much more difficult than in other disciplines. Psychologists deal in behaviour and, except in the simplest types, obstacles in the way of prediction are enormous. In general, such obstacles stem from the following conditions: 1) The variables involved usually are very difficult to isolate and define. 2) Control of many of these is impossible. 3) Many of the variables all but defy measurement. For …  Read more

Experiments entailing 256 guinea pigs were carried out to compare three methods of interpreting data obtained from the ‘Odontoblast Method’ of vitamin C bioassay using three types of tomato juice and two types of apple juice as the antiscorbutic test substances. All three methods led to approximately the same relative potencies. However, Bliss and Marks’ procedure (Method II) overcame some of the limitations of Coward’s dosage-response curve method (Method I), in that it introduced objective tests for the linearity of the response curves and for the existence of parallelism between the standard and the test substances, thus establishing a more …  Read more

It would appear, from a review of the literature on trichinosis, that the majority of the experiments, concerning the effects of chemical and physica~ agents on larvae of Trichinella spiralis, have been carried out, in vivo. On the other hand, in vitro studies of this nature have been relatively few in number, and information is therefore rather meagre. Possibly the differences of opinion, among the workers, in this. field, as to the value or such experiments, may account for the dearth of knowledge in this regard.  Read more

Rapid progress has been made in the last decade in the study of chemotherapy, “a subject concerning the properties and various interactions of drug, parasite and host,” (Mcllwain, 1944). In particular, many bacterial diseases which have so far failed to respond to immunization are now being more effectively treated with drugs which have only recently been recognized. The chemotherapeutic drugs include those prepared synthetically and the naturally occurring antibiotics produced by living organisms. [...] Several important physical factors, such as permeability, oxygen tension and oxidation-reduction potentials have been shown to influence the overall antibacterial effect and must therefore be considered …  Read more

Toute thèse scientifique doit être appuyée par des faits. C’est ce que j‘ai essayé de faire dans le présent ouvrage. Il y a des vérités que l‘on peut classifier comme dangereuses parce qu‘elles ne sont pas sanctionnées par l‘opinion publique. Quand une découverte met à nu un point faible du pouvoir en autorité, i l y a toujours danger de représailles. Tout au fond de notre subconscient, la peur d‘être ennuyé, tout aussi bien que la nouveauté du principe, agissant sur nous à notre insu nous représente des données véridiques comme invraisemblables. Nous serions tentés de les juger fausses si …  Read more

Numerous investigators have described morphologic changes attributed to experimentally induced hypersensitivity. Different observers have stressed different lesions, and the recent recognition or sulfonamide hypersensitivity has resulted in further additions to an already long list of tissue alterations. In the experiments forming the basis or this thesis, 77 rabbits were given large doses of horse serum intravenously, and their tissues searched for lesions. An acute arteritis, quite similar to the vascular lesions or periarteritis nodosa was found in 47 cases. Diffuse and focal inflammatory lesions were found in smooth, cardiac and skeletal muscle. The latter changes bore a striking resemblance to …  Read more

The first difficulty is concerned with the differences that exist between the sediments and their source rocks. Sedimentary rocks are formed from the destruction of igneous and metamorphic rocks, or from earlier sediments. Features which may have been distinctive of the source rocks are likely to be submerged during the processes of weathering, transportation, and deposition. Sediments of very diverse origins may look very much alike after a long period of transportation, since only certain kinds of material can withstand continued attrition or adverse climatic environment. Conversely within narrow limits the same source rocks can give derived sediments of more …  Read more

Howes, F. (Supervisor)  Read more

A sensitive microwave spectrometer which operates over the range V = 0.715 cm^-1 to V = 0.870 cm^-1 has been constructed and used to study molecular absorption spectra of numerous gases. The spectral lines in this region of NH3, H2O, HDO, OCS, and CH3OH, which had been reported in the literature, have been confirmed with this instrument. In the spectrum of CH3OH a new line has been found, having a frequency of 24,926 megacycles. Thirty-four other compounds which showed theoretical possibilities of possessing spectral lines in this region have been studied, but no new lines have been found. A modification …  Read more

In this experiment, rats were fed a series of baked diets containing three different shortenings, ( Lard, Covo and Rapeseed ) incorporated at 0, 8, 18 and 36 percent by weight. The protein level for half the diets was maintained at 17 percent of the calories,while the remaining half contained 15 percent protein by weight. Lard and Covo were of equal nutritional value but the Rapeseed diets were less palatable and produced significantly lower gains at 38 and 36 percent levels. It was concluded that high levels of Rapeseed decreased the efficiency of utilization of the diet. Variations in gain …  Read more

This thesis breaks away from the usual procedure in that it uses newspapers for historical sources, something that has all too infrequently been done in works on Canadian History. In fact, the regrettable lack of other studies along the same lines made for considerable difficulty in its preparation. The reader will notice the extensive, I will not say disproportionate, use made of Montreal papers such as the Gazette, the Herald, the Courier, the Pilot, the Witness, La Minerve. Le Moniteur Canadien, and L’Avenir. I will not say disproportionate, because Montreal was really the seat of the movement, and although it …  Read more

This study on the Confederation of Catholic Workers of Canada has been undertaken in view of the fact that there is little material of an organized and comprehensive nature available on this subject. It traces, in a general manner, the causes for the establishment of an organization of an exclusive character for the French Canadian Catholic worker out of the peculiar problems or the industrialization of Quebec and a complication of this process by the ethnic differences between the initiators of industrialization and the workers destined to be employed in production. Following an account of the growth and development of …  Read more

The drying of foods was widely employed by ancient people as a means of food preservation. The original techniques were extremely crude but during the succeeding centuries the methods were gradually modified and improved. As is often the case with progress, the growth of the dried food industry in recent times has been motivated by war-time needs. These requirements have accelerated the development of improved dehydrating processes, which have resulted in products of relatively high quality.  Read more

By the term coccidiosis we imply an infection with one or more of the several species belonging to the order Coccidia, a subdivision of the class Sporozoa whose members are parasitic forms reproducing typically by schizogony and which give rise to sporozoites enclosed in a resistant oocyst after syngamy has occurred. The seven species of coccidia occurring in the domestic chicken are all members of the genus Eimeria, a genus characterized by the formation of four sporoblasts within the oocyst and by the ultimate development of two sporozoites within each sporoblast in the infective stage. While the oocysts of each …  Read more

High energy particles can be produced most directly by allowing the ionized particle to be accelerated through a single large potential drop. This method was first successfully applied by Van de Graaff. The large voltage involved leads to an obvious difficulty of insulation which results in extremely bulky and expensive equipment for voltage outputs of only several million volts. This insulation difficulty has been overcome in two ways. One method is to enclose the equipment of high potential in a container, which is then either evacuated or filled with freon at high pressure. That has been applied by Herb at …  Read more

During the 1946 field season, three prospecting parties engaged by Mistassini Explorations Ltd. worked in, and northeast of, the Lake Mistassini region. The purpose was to investigate reports of lead, zinc, silver, and iron occurrences, and to outline the geology of the region as a basis for future prospecting. In addition, it was hoped that the contact of the Mistassini sediments and the Grenville gneisses to the east could be traced. The writer was in charge of No. 1 field party, which spent the season in the Lake Albanel area. Two other parties prospected the Takwa River country to the …  Read more

The thesis first examines, briefly, work previously done by othersin producing electrical waves of preassigned shape. Then afterdiscussing the relation between square waves and those of differentsimple forms, the distinction between individual pulses and trainsof pulses is pointed out. The transient and steady state responsesof linear passive networks are next considered, and the connectionbetween input and response analyzed. Finding such a network toproduce the desired wave shape from a given input is reduced to twogeneral methods.The first method is a deductive one, reducing the required networkcharacteristics to design parameters, for a graphical synthesisprocedure. This is described in a general way …  Read more

Ten centimeter radar echoes from rain and snow are discussed quantitatively from a theoretical and experimental point of view. Measurements of the power back-scattered by rain and snow are correlated with precipitation measurements made at the ground. The theory of ten centimeter radar echoes from rain has been checked by experiment. Radar echoes from continuous precipitation are analysed in height in a quantitative manner. The distribution of precipitation with height in non-convective meteorological situations is estimated from radar measurements.  Read more

[...] Within recent times soil chemists (8, 26) have shown that different soils vary in their fixing capacity for phosphorus, and measurements of the fixing power of soils have been based on the solubilities of the phosphorus compounds in dilute acid solutions. It will be shown, however, in this paper that certain acid extractants have failed to give a true picture of the phosphorus-supplying ability of the acid clay soils of British Guiana, and that the estimation of exchangeable phosphorus of soils will undoubtedly reveal some of the misconceptions of phosphorus fixation. A clear conception of the mechanism of phosphorus …  Read more

The growing importance of virus diseases affecting sweet and sour varieties of cherry is gradually bringing about a shift in emphasis on the possible significance of the insect populations of cherry orchards. Hitherto only those species of insects numerous enough to impair the health or efficiency of the trees and their products have been considered of sufficient economic importance to be worthy of extensive study. Now, insects capable of being vectors of virus diseases may assume a significance quite out of proportion to their relative density of population. It was therefore decided to commence a study from this point of …  Read more

As would soon be obvious to anyone who desired to make a study of the subject, very little has been written dealing with the relationship between the nobles and the king in France during the period covered in this thesis. This author’s hope is to make clear what prob-[sic] were common to both nobility and Crown, how they were met by both, and finally, why it was that the Crown emerged victorious from the struggle. 1594 was chosen as the starting date because it is the year in which Henry IV was finally recognized as king; the closing date, 1624, …  Read more

With the discovery of the remarkable chemotherapeutic properties of penicillin and streptomycin, considerable interest has arisen in finding and developing other antibacterial substances produced by microorganisms. The yellow colouring matter, citrinin, produced by several species or fungi, exerts considerable antibiotic activity against most gram-positive and some gram-negative organisms in vitro. Although some uncertainty existed as to its usefulness in vivo, the high yield and ease of production justified further investigation of this antibiotic. The purpose or this investigation was to study the chemistry of citrinin in order to elucidate its structure more fully with the object or relating its antibacterial …  Read more

A recent economic survey of edible fats and oils indicated that the world supply was only sufficient to meet slightly over one-half of the requirements for 1946. This deficit will most certainly affect Canada’s overall supply in 1947, particularly as our production has declined, eg., the amount of lard produced in 1946 was only fifty percent of the 1944 production. [...] Linseed oil comprises by far the largest proportion of the vegetable oil produced in Canada and if it could be utilized for edible purposes it would assist materially in alleviating prevailing shortages of food oils. Some linseed oil is …  Read more

Four Cheviot wethers, approximately five months of age, were used in an experiment designed to investigate, by phosphorous balance method, the comparative value of forage phosphorous from hay cut at two different stages of maturity, grown on phosphate-fertilized and unfertilized plots. Fertilization resulted in a considerable increase in the percent phosphorous in the fertilized forage over that in the unfertilized but this increased forage phosphorous was not fully available to the animals. The indications were that this was a direct result of the increased physiological age and resultant lower digestibility of the fertilized forage. This was borne out by the …  Read more

MacEachern, D. (Supervisor)  Read more

Authorities in the field of lignin chemistry have agreed that the lignin complex is an extremely sensitive material which is chemically changed during isolation by mineral acids or alkalies, by acidulated organic solvents, by hot sulfite solutions or by many other reagents. Since present methods of isolating lignin involve such drastic treatments, the products probably bear only an indirect structural relationship to lignin "in situ". In consequence, very little is known of the nature of lignin as it exists in wood. The problem of isolating unchanged lignin seems to depend upon the development of methods that avoid drastic conditions of …  Read more

Carbonic acid and carbonic acid combined with freezing and thawing, extract considerably less, and 0.5N hydrochloric acid only slightly more potassium from Greensboro pasture soil, than does extraction with\ ammonium acetate. The hydrochloric acid extraction indicates that this soil has a low supply of so-called moderately available potassium. Experiments with samples of fertilized Greensboro loam show little variation in the moderately available fraction.  Read more

The problem of the Jews in the schools of the Province of Quebec is a part of the general and educational history of the Province for the past century; an historical description is therefore needed for an adequate understanding of the present situation of the Jewish minority in the educational system of Quebec. The main problem throughout the compilation of this work has been the difficulty in obtaining and verifying data. The available bibliography and source material are restricted in quantity and extremely limited in character.  Read more