McGill University Theses and dissertations published in 1950

The vegetation of Labrador-Ungava has long attracted the attention of explorers, naturalists and other scientists who have made numerous studies at various places in the vast Peninsula. Due to the inaccessibility of much of this inhospitable land, it has been impossible to undertake many extensive ground surveys in the interior and consequently most studies in the past have been confined to the coastal areas. In recent years there have been several surveys conducted in the interior, but the nature of the country will prevent much detailed ground work for many years to come. Nearly all of Labrador-Ungava has, however, been …  Read more

The area to be described is situated in Labrador (latitude 54° 52' N., longitude 66° 30' W.) on the concession of Labrador Mining and Exploration Company. It lies just west of Timmins Bay, Attikamagen Lake, and covers an approximately rectangular area of a little less than 2-1/2 square miles. (See map, page 4). The area is accessible from Knob Lake using the Company’s seaplanes, the distance being approximately 12 miles eastward.  Read more

Extending eastward from the Sault Ste. Marie area of Ontario, along the north shore of Lake Huron, thence northeastward through the Sudbury and Lake Wanapitei areas, to the Gowganda and Cobalt areas and on into the Province of Quebec, there is a belt of Algonkian rocks of Huronian age. They consist for the most part of clastic Sediments, quartzites, arkoses, greywackes, conglomerates and possibly tillites, with minor amounts of limestone and volcanic extrusive rocks. The rocks of this belt have been the subject of much study and many reports.  Read more

Since the discovery of ascorbic acid oxidase by Szent-Gyorgyi (55) in 1931, an ever increasing number of plant species and parts have been shown to contain the enzyme. The following list (Table I) of ascorbic acid oxidase-containing plants has been compiled from the literature up to and including 1950. The list, though small, includes plants from eleven families of the Monocotyledoneae and Dicotyledoneae. Several investigators (16, 20, 55, 62) consider that ascorbic acid oxidase in these plants plays a terminal role in their respiration but others (2, 7), are not in agreement with this view owing mainly to the limited …  Read more

During the summer of 1949 the writer was engaged by the Labrador Mining and Exploration Company of Montreal on a survey party mapping an area in central Labrador and, in particular, a band of iron-bearing formation that runs through it. In the winter of the same year a petrographic study of the formation was undertaken at McGill University, by the writer, and is the subject of this thesis. The iron formation lies between the lakes Snelgrove, to the south east, and Comeback, to the north, both of which are situated within the Dyke Lake Sheet and lie in the concession …  Read more

The chemistry of organo-metallic compounds has been an important field of investigation, providing a link between organic and inorganic chemistry. Valuable organo-metallic compounds of many uses have been discovered or synthesized: drugs, such as the arsenic compounds; reaction intermediates, such as Grignard reagents and lithium alkyls; and polymeric substances, such as the silicones. The organic chemistry of Group IV elements is interesting because these elements, being tetracovalent, can act much more like carbon than any other hetero elements can.  Read more

Warren thought of many, many things with his duffle bag heavy on his shoulder, his fingers flexing and tightening around the curve of the thick, steel railing, his eyes passing lightly over the business of unloading a troopship, but most of all he thought about going home. For him the worst of the Army was over; for him, even though the actual fighting had ceased many months ago, there had followed the ordeal of occupation, the dreary policing of unpoliceable people. He watched the gangplank moving slowly; he tried to be patient.  Read more

Broadside arrays employing tiers of horizontal colinear elements have attained considerable prominence in the short-wave broadcasting field. One may, in fact, cite many of their characteristics as standards by which other radiating systems are judged. As conventionally designed, however, the broadside array is used for single frequency operation only. If consideration be given to the number of frequency bands which must be used to provide optimum broadcast service throughout the cyclical variations in ionospheric density, a very costly set of arrays is indicated.  Read more

Historically, there have been two main approaches to the analysis of cerebral function. From one point of view, it has been maintained that different psychological attributes or functions reside in different parts of the cerebrum. In contrast to this, the position has been held by many that there is no such localization of function. It is now quite clear that many functions can be localized, in the sense that a loss of a limited region of cerebral tissue results in a qualitatively limited, or restricted, loss of function, and a loss of much cerebral tissue elsewhere in the brain does …  Read more

The search for a greater knowledge of the physiology and biochemistry involved in gastric secretion has advanced very slowly for many years. Many of the possible roads of investigation have been blocked waiting for progress in special fields. However, much investigation can be done using the present knowledge to help elucidate the extremely difficult but important problems. Any advancement in the knowledge of gastric secretion would be a valuable step forward in the understanding of this complex function and might be used to great value in many important problems including that of peptic ulcer and combined systems disease.  Read more

This study has proven to be of particular interest because it is concerned with education in its broadest sense. The problem of the re-settlement of displaced persons in Canada is one of rehabilitation of lives which have undergone unusual strain and unnatural experiences. When we invite displaced persons to settle here we undertake the obligation of so providing for their re-education and for their adaptation to Canadian life that they will become useful and happy citizens. This study has inevitably turned its attention towards many and different aspects of the background of these displaced persons and of the problems which …  Read more

In proposing to devote this thesis to a study of the leading women characters in George Eliot's novels, I am confronted with the necessity of choosing from each novel the woman or women to be discussed. In The Mill On The Floss, Silas Marner, and in the stories from Scenes of Clerical Life (The Sad Fortunes Of The Reverend Amos Barton, Janet's Repentance, and Mr. Gilfil's Love Story) the choice is obvious.  Read more

This study is on the extension of contour analysis. The extension is an elaboration of existing contour analysis and not an application of that analysis to new fields. The object is to carry the analysis of indifference curves and isoquants to a logical conclusion. This entails a detailed consideration of areas of the contour maps not required for ordinary discussions of demand and production problems. Three preliminary arguments may be advanced for extending the analysis.  Read more

Although this work must of course be judged as an entity, it is perhaps best to state that it has been intended as a part of a greater work. This will explain why certain subjects have not been dealt with in the following pages and why the bibliography does not list some material which would certainly have to be consulted in a general study of the introduction of machinery during the Industrial Revolution. This thesis deals with the period 1760-1810. In the greater work, the thesis presented here will be preceded with a discussion of machinery introduced in England before …  Read more

Interest on the part of the author in the current investigation was first stimulated while he was a member of the medical laboratory staff associated with the U.S. Army 42nd General Hospital in Brisbane, Australia, during the last war. While there numerous cases of infectious mononucleosis were studied, and the Paul-Bunnell reaction was seen as a valuable tool in the differential diagnosis of this disease, especially where the blood picture suggested that of lymphatic leucemia. It was our experience, however, that roughly one serum out of ten from cases diagnosed on a clinical basis as infectious mononucleosis and exhibiting the …  Read more

It has been proposed within recent years that the neurotoxin of Clostridium botulinum might exert its effect in the animal body by interfering with the synthesis or release of acetylcholine at myoneural junctions. The object of this study was to determine whether or not botulinum toxin inhibits the bacterial acetylation of choline. No effect upon the synthesis or release of acetylcholine by Lactobacillus plantarum was demonstrated. It may be that the large toxin molecule is unable to penetrate the cell membrane. The apparent activity of a bacterial cell-free "extract" of the enzyme involved in the acetylation of choline indicates however …  Read more

Helminthiasis is widespread and has involved a medical and veterinary problem since ancient times. Stoll (1947) has estimated that at least eight hundred million human beings are infested with more than two billion helminths. There are also thousands of species of parasites which do not infest man, but which have as their natural hosts other animals, or plants. Despite the extensive distribution of parasitic worms and their enormous economic and medical importance, little is known concerning their life processes.  Read more

When a body is introduced into an electromagnetic field, a distribution of charge and current is induced on its surface. The total field then present is the superposition of the two component fields, the source field and the one arising from the induced distribution over the body. The magnitude of this induced field in any direction is dependent on the composition, the size relative to the wavelength of the incident radiation and on the shape of the body. In recent years the problem of determining the magnitude of the induced field has received considerable impetus due to the advent of …  Read more

When a metallic soap such as Aluminum Stearate is suitably dispersed in a liquid hydrocarbon such as benzene or gasoline, gels are formed which have visco-elastic properties differing considerably from those of ordinary liquids. The anomalous flow characteristics of these systems render them useful for a number of practical applications such as in medications (vaseline) and lubricating greases. During World War II, Aluminum soap-gasoline gels were used extensively as incendiary bomb chargings and flame thrower fuels. The merit of these systems may be indicated by referring to the behavior of one or two commercial products. For application to the skin …  Read more

Coalescence of raindrops and cloud droplets has been studied in collaboration with W. Hitschfeld, by allowing drops of 3 mm diameter to fall through a three metre column of cloud. The observed drop growth is expressed in terms of a collection efficiency, the fraction of the cloud water in the path of the drop, which is actually picked up. Collection efficiencies, using three clouds of different droplet-size distributions, are found to be in good agreement with aerodynamic collision efficiencies, calculated from a theory by Langmuir. His assumption that collision always leads to coalescence is thus confirmed.  Read more

The history of Pasteurella multocida (sometimes called Pasteurella septica) as a pathogen of animals dates back to the mid-nineteenth century. It has long been held responsible for the disease known as haemorrhagic septicaemia in a large variety of animals, both tame and wild. In the 1850’s, many workers in the course of their investigations found in varied sick or dead animals, an organism that is now called Pasteurella but was not known by any name at that time. These organisms, apparently pathogenic, were isolated from animals suffering from a disease of a haemorrhagic nature. Hueppe (1886) collected strains of these …  Read more

This thesis describes a bridge detector designed to operate between 2 kilocycles and 100 kilocycles per second. The detector is an electronic device which beats the incoming signal with a local oscillator signal. This effect is due to the heterodyne principle. The local oscillator is of the Wein Bridge type which utilizes a Wein Bridge C-R feedback circuit to produce stable harmonic-free oscillations. The beat-frequency signal is filtered by a two-section tuned amplifier tuned to 1000 cycles per second. The amplifiers are of the parallel-T feedback type which use a C-R degenerative feedback network to produce selective amplification. The output …  Read more

Results from two experiments on Grand Rapids, leaf lettuce are presented. Twelve nutrient solutions were used to grow the plants in sand cultures. Determinations of ascorbic acid concentration in the fresh tissues were made colourimetrically and the results analysed statistically. It was found that increased nitrogen gave highly significant increases in the ascorbic acid content of the plants in the winter experiment and non-significant increases in the spring experiment. Increased phosphorus and potassium gave non-significant results. The general effect in both experiments was for phosphorus to increase and potassium to decrease the concentration of vitamin C. Significant interactions between phosphorus …  Read more

This study of Pope's rhetoric and diction began as an examination of his "poetical diction". It soon became evident, however, that an examination of diction per se was not inclusive enough, and that anti-neoclassic quarrels with Pope's diction were merely symptoms of a process in aesthetic theory which has been taking place since the Renaissance. Therefore the subject was expanded to take this development into account. If it appears that the backdrop occasionally shadows almost entirely the dwarf of Twickenham, it must be granted that few poets have been so representative of their age as at the same time head …  Read more

The analysis and design of a microwave amplifier tube has been carried out in which amplification is produced by the interaction of two streams of electrons. An electron gun system, able to provide the two streams of electrons, has been built according to observations made on a rubber membrane analogue of the system. Electron-optical tests have verified the behaviour which the analogue method of design predicted. The mechanical construction of the tube is described here in detail. Radio frequency tests made at a signal wavelength of 10.7 cm. have confirmed the existence of the process of double-stream amplification.  Read more

Digestibility studies on pure samples of barley, oats and wheat, with and without admixtures of oats, wheat, barley, wild oats and weed seeds, were carried out using white rats. Apparent digestibility coefficients for dry matter, crude fibre, crude protein, and energy, together with metabolizable energy values were determined for each diet. The results indicated that the individual grains and their admixtures have characteristic digestibilities. The varying additions to barley or wheat of grains other than the main grain and/or of wild oats or weed seeds reduced the digestibility of dry matter and digestible energy and likewise metabolizable energy of the …  Read more

Phase difference is considered to be the difference in time between the crossing of the zero axis for periodic functions of the same repetition rate. This measurement may be given as a fraction of a second of time or in electrical degrees.  Read more

Many methods of measuring the phase difference between two wave forms have been devised and used. The definition of the problem: Phase difference is considered to be the difference in time between the crossing of the zero axis for periodic functions of the same repetition rate. This measurement may be given as a fraction of a second of time or in electrical degrees. For example, in Fig. 1, if the angle ∠ is 60 degrees and the repetition rate is 1000 cycles per second, then ∠ is also a time of 60/360 x 1/1000 seconds or 166.67 microseconds. [...]  Read more

The map-area straddles the crest of a major anticline within the Purcell Mountains of British Columbia. It is underlain by a conformable series of precambrian quartzite, limestone, and slate members. One limb of the major anticline is disturbed locally by a zone of minor folding. This minor folding has caused considerable plastic flowage in a thick limestone member of the series. As a result of the flowage, the limestone beds are intricately folded and have developed a distinctive layered structure. The origin of this layering by metamorphic differentiation is discussed. A series of quartz veins, containing small amounts of gold, …  Read more

The synthesis of labelled amino acids was undertaken at this laboratory with a view toward carrying out some metabolism studies on laboratory animals and experimenting with isotope dilution techniques in the analysis of biological materials. The long-lived isotope of carbon, C14, offered a means of labelling compounds for such studies without the disadvantage of changed chemical properties. This problem is often encountered when chemically inert radicals are used for this purpose. The essential amino acid, phenylalanine, was selected for the first synthesis, with the radio-active carbon in the carboxyl position.  Read more

Water drops, 1.5 mm in radius, were allowed to fall through three-meter lengths of three different laboratory-produced clouds. From the increase in mass of these drops it was concluded that (1) every collision with a cloud droplet led to coalescence, and (2) Langmuir's (1948) theory of collision was valid. To adapt this theory to the non-terminal velocities encountered in the experiment, equations describing the free fall of drops through air were formulated and solved. The present thesis also describes in detail methods of determining the density and droplet size distribution of the clouds. A related problem involving both accretion and …  Read more

The development of this research program, designed to study some new aspects of intracellular oxidations and reductions, had its origin in the writer's observation that many in vitro studies concerning the reported metabolism of certain steroids, had one fact in common. This fact was that the enzymatic changes undergone by these steroids were the consequences of either hydrogen addition or removal. These enzymatic reactions had been observed with tissue slices, tissue homogenates, bacterial suspensions or fungi.  Read more

The general solution of the first order linear differential equation, F(x, y, y’) = 0 (1.1.1), is an equation connecting x, y and an arbitrary constant. We assume P to be a single-valued function throughout some domain and that y is a differentiable function of x. Under certain conditions (Goursat 5, Chap. 2) we may write 1.1.1 in the form, y’ = f(x, y) (1.1.2), where f(x, y) is continuous (simultaneously) in x and y in a domain S.  Read more

Fatty oils which, on exposure to air, dry to insoluble, infusible films, have been used as protective and decorative coatings for over two thousand years. Today their manufacture for use in paints, varnishes, linoleums, printing inks, and allied materials constitutes a major industry. In the intervening years great advances have been made in their technology but the mechanism by which they are transformed from the liquid to the solid state is still very incompletely understood. This unsatisfactory condition is by no means due to a lack of research into the problem.  Read more

The Sawyer Lake area is in central Labrador, between Sawyer lake and Comeback lake. It forms a northeast trending parallelogram about twenty miles long and three to five miles wide, covering in all about eighty-five square miles. It lies between latitudes 54° 26’ and 54°43’ north and longitudes 65°50’ and 66°0’ west.  Read more

A computer for calculating diffraction fields is described. It has been shown that a pulse is related to its frequency spectrum in a manner which is analogous to the relation between the aperture distribution of an antenna and its radiation pattern. This analogy, in regard to typical microwave antennas, forms the basis for a computer with practical electronic constants. The experimental work was divided into three sections, namely, a pulse source, a dispersion network and a spectrum analyser. The present discussion is primarily concerned with the analyser section of the computer. Theoretical considerations have been applied to typical microwave antennas …  Read more

During the summer of 1949, the Labrador Mining and Exploration Company Limited, carried out an extensive mapping and exploration program in the base-metal belt which lies in the north-eastern section of their concessions in the Labrador Trough. Unfortunately, after the mapping had been underway for six weeks, the company officials decided to abandon all work in the basemetal belt, and the personnel were moved to areas that required immediate mapping in the main iron ore zone, north of Burnt Creek. The writer was senior-assistant to Dr. P.E. Auger, chief of one of the seven man parties that carried out mapping …  Read more

In surgical procedures, where there is need for profound muscular relaxation, the use of adjuncts in anaesthesia has been enthusiastically received by the surgeon, anaesthetist and the patient. Among these adjuncts, which have been adequately tested, are curare and myanesin. They relax the muscles of the body to a degree depending on the dosage, the nature of the anaesthetic gases and the general physical condition of the patient. Benzimidazole also belongs to this group of substances which cause muscular relaxation. Curare was first introduced as a muscle relaxant in anaesthesia by Griffith and Johnson of Montreal in 1942. It is …  Read more

Since the dawn of electromagnetic propagation, men have for various reasons been striving for frequencies which drive higher and higher into the frequency spectrum. With the advent of these higher frequencies, other problems arose which were not encountered at lower orders of frequency. For instance, it became increasingly more difficult to contain power on transmission lines without encountering high losses at short wave lengths. Power radiating from an antenna was highly desired, but power, radiating from the transmission line which was feeding the antenna, was another question.  Read more

The improvements made in the nuclear magnetic resonance apparatus at the McGill Radiation Laboratory are described. The design and construction of the magnet current regulator are considered in detail. A magnetic field homogeneous to one part in ten thousand and regulated to one part in fifty thousand has been attained. Magnetic resonance has been found in scandium45 . The frequency of resonance has been compared with that of the proton in the same magnetic field. The magnetic moment of Sc.45 has thence been calculated as 4.7555 +/- 0.001, including the effect of a small correction for atomic diamagnetism.  Read more

Despite the advances of electrophysiology and the passage of fifty years, the conclusions of John Hughlings Jackson as regards the mechanisms involved in idiopathic epilepsy are today not only being confirmed, but are serving as a basis for farther investigation. Studies of cortical localisation of onset in various forms of epilepsy have failed to reveal a focus of onset for petit mal attacks. Major generalised convulsive seizures ("grand mal") of bilateral onset have also defied attempts at localisation at the level of the cortex.  Read more

The basic intrusive rocks constitute a well-differentiated series that ranges from amphibolite to diorite to syenite. The northern and the southern granite are characterized by oligoclase feldspar and interlocking texture. These two masses are believed to be magmatically related and their differences are explained as resulting from depth of consolidation. The Goéland batholith differs from the other two granitic bodies by its equigranular texture and the more basic composition of its plagioclase. The petrographic descriptions of the intrusive rocks are followed by considerations on their age and mode of intrusion No mineral deposits of economic importance have been found though …  Read more

This investigation is essentially a statistical analysis of the pattern of folding. In order to disclose the pattern of folding in a region as complex as the Howson creek area, it is necessary to determine the tops of beds. The most valuable criteria for such determinations are primary sedimentary structures, notably cross-lamination, graded bedding and ripplemark. The recognition and interpretation of these features has resulted in a fundamentally changed concept of the pattern of folding from one of isoclines and synclines with steep-dipping axial planes and little or no overturning, to one of isoclines and synclines with nearly horizontal axial …  Read more

The results of a series of tests in which three diets composed essentially of wheat were fed to human subjects indicated that the ground wheat muffins diet and shredded wheat diet tested were probably of the same digestible energy value. These two diets were combined to form one basal diet which was fed with supplements of raw and cooked egg at three levels in a second series of tests to humans and in a third series to rats. Higher digestion values were obtained for cooked egg than for raw egg with both species. Rats digested all fractions of the basal …  Read more

The theory of leadership as an area of social psychology has undergone a significant change within the past decade, linen the first experimental study in this field was reported by Terman (33), he distinguished between two opposed historical traditions. One, stemming from Carlyle, conceived leadership to be one or more traits in the person of the leader. The other, formulated in its most extreme form by Marx, maintained that leaders exist only insofar as they satisfy the needs and purposes of followers; they are the creation of the led. It is this dichotomy which has been breaking down in recent …  Read more

The original contributions include a general survey of the problem of relating any event to the instantaneous frequency of a sweeping-frequency signal; the use of variable-frequency circuit analysis and the application of electronic circuit techniques in the design and construction of the apparatus of the requisite precision for synchronizing the cyclotron ion source pulse with the frequency modulation cycle; the design and construction of a system for the convenient oscilloscopic monitoring of the cyclotron operation.  Read more

In the past twenty years there has probably been less written on the subject of nervousness than on any other common complaint. To the best of this writer’s knowledge, there has been no recent text devoted to a thorough examination of the subject and only sporadic interest has been shown by researchers. Sigmund Freud, the father of modern psychiatry, began his learned observations by analyzing the mental health of adults. He soon arrived at the conclusion that the onset of mental illness can usually be traced to the period of post natal development and followed through to adulthood.  Read more

The appearance of massed insects is indeed familiar to anyone who has observed the activities of ant colonies, bee swarms, large groups of aphids and other insects in his own garden. Without a great deal of imagination these swarming animals may appear not unlike a highly viscous liquid, each individual insect playing the role of an individual molecule. For instance, a large number of brown flour beetles has the peculiar appearance of slowly spreading brown molasses at room temperature, and, at a slightly higher temperature, that of thick lubricating oil. Further, the mass may be poured through a funnel and …  Read more

A brief history of the application of mathematical methods to the study of fossils is followed by a fairly extensive treatment of the derivation of the formulae used in statistical studies of this kind. The mathematics has been kept as simple as possible. The main section of the paper is divided into four parts. Part One establishes the validity of the use of statistical methods in the field of Biology. In Part Two the use of graphical methods in the study of fossils is discussed. Scatter diagrams and pure statistical methods are reviewed in Part Three, whilst in Part Four …  Read more

Howes, F. (Supervisor)  Read more