McGill University Theses and dissertations published in 1950

The “Frequency Shift” principle has come into wide use in the past decade as a means of transmitting automatic signals over a radio link. It has been demonstrated (l) that a signal-to-noise improvement of 11 db may be obtained over an “on-off” system. The spurious sideband transmission is reduced, (2) and the problem of keying is greatly simplified as the carrier is, essentially, frequency modulated rather than being switched on and off. This method of transmission is at present being used extensively by military and civil communication services working between fixed points. The keying units employed are not, however, readily …  Read more

The phenomenon of the phase change of light on reflection from partially reflecting metal films deposited on transparent optical surfaces is one of interest in Metrology, as it introduces a correction to be applied to obtain the lengths of end standards interferometrically. In this research the optical thicknesses of such films as well as their phase change are obtained as functions of their optical transmissivity and the wavelength of the reflected light. Six of the colors in the visible helium spectrum ranging from red to violet, and seven white light transmissivities ranging from 0% to 73% are investigated. The history …  Read more

The experimental investigation described in this thesis is a logical continuation of the combustion work carried out by A.B. Howell* in the summer of 1949. Howell built the first pilot apparatus to burn vapourized hydrocarbon fuels and used it to measure the carbon deposited on the walls of the flame tube. This apparatus was rebuilt by the writer and adapted to the measurements of the total free stream carbon appearing in the exhaust. Four fuels were tested and it was found that total carbon formation is primarily a function of the conditions of combustion and, to a much smaller extent, …  Read more

The glacial geology of the Province of Alberta has received comparatively study and only a small amount has been published on the subject. Most of the work that has been done has been in southern Alberta, near the United States border, and in the foothills of the Rockies. Much of the material published on glacial geology in the Province is very general. The author does not know of any detailed work or publication about the glacial geology of the region described in this thesis. The writer has visited all parts of this Red Deer map-area and has seen everything in …  Read more

Leblond, C. (Supervisor)  Read more

“It is no use trying to sum people up,” said Virginia Woolf of Jacob, the elusive hero of Jacob’s Room, her first radically experimental novel. “One must follow hints, not exactly what is said, nor yet entirely what is done —“1 A lifetime of research would not serve to assemble and interpret everything that Virginia Woolf herself in her life, said and did. And the significance of most of these things in the final summation of her personality would be of little use, as irrelevant to any rounded picture of a life as is any one of the multitude of …  Read more

With the progress of soil survey work in Canada and with the consequent recognition and definition of a large number of soil units the proper classification of soils has become a very urgent problem. Up to the present time some 220 million acres of land have been surveyed in Canada of which approximately 40 million acres are located in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. In these provinces alone the number of soil series established to date is close to 300. As the number of recognized differing soil units increases it becomes imperative that soils which have some major characteristics …  Read more

Petrographic methods as generally understood comprise the methods by which material collected in the field is investigated in the laboratory. Although for strictly petrological purposes it may be sufficient simply to effect the qualitative and quantitative examination of sediments, geologically speaking the investigation is incomplete without carrying the inquiry still further, viz. to a consideration of the source or sources of origin of the sediments and its bearing on the palaeogeography of the area at the time of deposition. Commenting on the value and nature of such investigation Milner (1940 p. 490) says “The perusal of this more philosophical aspect …  Read more

During the 1949 summer field season the writer had the opportunity of mapping the geology of two groups of claims for Falconbridge Nickel Mines limited. The location of these groups, in western Ontario and south eastern Manitoba, is indicated on the accompanying map of the general area. A geophysical survey and diamond drilling program had been completed during the winter months and over the break up period on the Werner Lake group. Geological mapping on a scale of two hundred feet to one inch was commenced early in May in order to correlate the results of the winter’s work. The …  Read more

In this survey the writer will be concerned with mental hygiene in its practice which directly assists children living at home in the Province of Quebec. The study will concern an analysis of the provisions in the province for the detection, diagnosis and treatment of children with social and emotional problems. These children will be those “who are in distress because of unsatisfied inner needs, or are seriously at outs with their environment - children whose development is thrown out of balance by difficulties which reveal themselves in unhealthy traits, unacceptable behaviour, or inability to cope with scholastic and social …  Read more

Duff, G. (Supervisor)  Read more

Melampsorella cerastii (Pers.) Schroet. is an organism which causes witches` brooms (Hexenbesen) in our firs (Abies spp.) and spruces (Picea spp.). It belongs to the group of higher fungi (Basidiomycetes) known as the rusts (Uredinales). The alternate hosts are various species of the Caryophyllaceae e.g. Cerastium and Stellaria (Alsine). Pycnia and aecia are produced on the coniferous host, while the uredinia and telia are borne on the caryophyllaceous host. The mycelium is perennial in both hosts, frequently living as long as the host does, and thus rendering the parasite more permanent even if the required alternate hosts are rare. In …  Read more

The term “feeding reflex” is intended to imply the actions of the most rostral part of the digestive tract during the ingestion of food. This includes tongue, lip, and jaw movements, salivation, the pharyngeal, laryngeal and esophageal phases of deglutition and the motor and secretory responses aroused in the stomach. This complex presents a number of points which bear mention. It is marked, of course, by its phylogenetic antiquity and the paucity of specialization apparent in its responses as the phylogenetic scale is ascended. It appears as though Nature had struck upon a satisfactory mechanism and then felt little need …  Read more

The saturated ring hydrocarbons are generally believed to behave as aliphatic compounds, for which reason they are frequently referred to as alicyclic. Just as in an homologous series of aliphatic chain compounds there is not a steady gradation in behaviour (e.g. the extreme lack of reactivity of neopentyl derivatives in negative ion-replacement reactions as compared with the corresponding propyl and isobutyl derivatives (1)), so in the alicyclic series, striking differences have been observed in the chemical behaviour of cyclohexyl derivatives as compared with derivatives of smaller and larger saturated rings. For example, although the rates of esterification of cyclopentanol, cyclohexanol …  Read more

A microscopic examination of thin sheets of certain kinds of mica, notably biotite, reveals the presence of small areas containing groups of concentric circles darker in colour than the surrounding mica. Usually a minute particle, more or less transparent, is observed at the centre of each circle. The circular marks are called pleochroic haloes and the particle at the centre is commonly referred to as the nucleus. Joly and Rutherford (1) were the first to show that the haloes are due to darkening of the mica by alpha particles emitted by radioactive material associated in some way with the nucleus. …  Read more

While a number of studies have been concerned with the fears of children of various ages, little seems to be known about the objects end situations that are feared by adolescents and young adults. The present study is aimed at gaining some knowledge of the fears of these latter groups in order to get a more complete picture of the changes in fear with age. Relationships of fear to intelligence and personality are also explored. Each of the 85 subjects reported his or her fears in two or more interviews. These data were then treated statistically. Findings show that young …  Read more

Winkler, C. (Supervisor)  Read more

Effects of electric shock stimulation and experimentally induced failure on perception were investigated by making use of a visual speed-of-word recognition task. Each word was tachistoscopically presented at successively increasing exposure times, and the number of trials needed for correct recognition was recorded. Results indicated that when words of a given class had been paired with shock during the training series, other words of that class were later recognized in fewer trials. When failure had been associated with these words, recognition required more exposures. These results ware interpreted as follows: a set to see a particular class of words was …  Read more

Werner Jaeger has remarked, “Aristotle is the only great figure of ancient philosophy and literature who has never had a Renaissance.” Although this statement was made possibly thirty years ago and may not now be true for all of Aristotle’s philosophy, it is, I fear, true for at least his Ethics. Whereas Plato’s theories have enjoyed almost constant re-examination and criticism throughout recent years, the same cannot, unfortunately, be said for those of his great successor. One explanation for this lies, perhaps, in the fact that contemporary Ethical investigation is not interested in the same things in which Aristotle was …  Read more

The experiments to be reported in this treatise were carried out with the object of contributing to the general knowledge of the human disease, acute diffuse glomerulonephritis. Albino rabbits were used in all experiments. These animals exhibit many important anatomical and physiological differences from humans. It is therefore obvious that any findings reported will depend for their ultimate validity upon the demonstration that, in certain respects at least, rabbits are capable of responses similar to those of humans, and vice versa. Limitations of time and material resources have not permitted the work to reach this decisive point. Thus, any equivalence …  Read more

The exact process by which narcotics, and anaesthetic agents in general, produce depression of nervous activity and unconsciousness in animals, is a problem which has long intrigued workers in the fields of pharmacology, physiology, and biochemistry. It has been only comparatively recently, however, that biochemical techniques were developed which made it possible to accurately determine various aspects of the metabolism of surviving, excised tissue preparations in vitro by manometric methods. Although the great bulk of scientific literature dealing with the mechanisms of narcosis has been concerned with the pharmacological action of narcotic agents in the intact animal, the effects of …  Read more

It is the purpose of this study to indicate the need for case work services to displaced persons admitted to Canada from Europe during the decade following world war II. It is the basic assumption of this enquiry that these people need more than casual friendly help from those among whom they settle. The immigrants are strangers to a new homeland, to a new community, to another culture. The D.Ps. face more than the usual difficulties and hardships of adjustment to a new community and its way of life. They have been subject to additional traumatic pressures of a sociological …  Read more

This study has two aims; first, to draw some conclusions concerning the stimulus factors, or evidences, which influence the direction of autokinetic movement; second, to utilize these conclusions in elucidating the nature of the autokinetic effect.  Read more

Bleaching of wood pulp with alkaline hypochlorite is of great economical importance in the pulp and paper industry. Considerable work has been done on the problem of such bleaching but mainly from an industrial point of view with the object of effecting economies in the chlorine consumption while at the same time maintaining high quality in the pulps. All of this work, too, was hampered by the necessity of studying the reactions of bleaching either on whole wood or on isolated lignins known to be altered in structure in obscure but probably drastic ways. Some years ago it was found …  Read more

A compact, low cost, positive ion accelerator was built. Hydrogen ions were obtained from a metal capillary ion source with an outlet hole of 0.5 mm. diameter- An ion current of 5.5 microamperes was accelerated by two focussing electrodes and three accelerating electrodes to a lithium target . The resultant alpha particles were counted on a zinc sulphide screen; the maximum yield was 23 particles per minute, through a solid angle of 0.11. The accelerating voltage, supplied by a Cockcroft-Walton voltage multiplier circuit, was varied from 45 to 90 kv.  Read more

The studies in land use control of the physical planning seminar at McGill University, during the session 1948-49, are the background to this thesis. These studies were based on a cooperative survey of Mount Royal Ward, Montreal, by the student members of the seminar. They were an architect, two economists, a geographer and a socioligist. The architect directed a survey of the effects of the existing land use controls on the density of the Ward. It revealed that there is a confusion of theoretical considerations on which the controls are based, and that in the main the existing controls are …  Read more

The interpretation of the structures in this study is based largely on the work of Snodgrass (1935), with frequent reference to that of Freeman (1947) and occasional reference to that of Madden (1944). The interpretation of the face is based on the work of Du Porte (1946); that of the male genitalia, on papers by Beirne (1942) and Hardwick (1948); that of the sternum, on lectures at Macdonald College, McGill University. FACE The most prominent sclerite on the anterior aspect of the head (Fig.l) is the frons (Fr), which is about as broad as long, and convex, being more sharply …  Read more

For centuries bone was considered a very inert substance. The hardness of the bone as compared to other tissues, the slowness of repair following fracture, and the length of time for bone autolysis, all supported this concept. However, some doubt was cast on this theory, when in 1887 Macewan noted the difference in strength and brittleness in the bones of young children, adults and the very aged. He also observed that in sickness the bones of children became very soft and pliable and that 2 weeks after recovery they had returned to their former hard state. This surely suggested that …  Read more

A review of the literature indicates that blood lipid levels are normally relatively constant, and are independent of age, body weight and ordinary meals. Variations from normal levels occur in pregnancy, under duress, in certain pathological states, and after fat ingestion. Extremes in fat intake influence the levels directly. Low fat diets increase the saturation of the component fatty acids. Levels of blood lipid fractions tend to change slowly and proportionally. Phospholipid and neutral fat levels rise during fat absorption but not in proportion to the amount of fat ingested; cholesterol levels change inconsistently. Experimental work confirms the above observations …  Read more

Duthie, G. (Supervisor)  Read more

During World War II, the serious shortage of edible fats and oils in Canada stimulated investigations on the use of domestic vegetable oils for foods. Attention was concentrated on linseed oil, which could be produced in large quantities; but hydrogenated linseed shortenings developed serious flavor reversion. This made them totally unacceptable to the consumers. Evidence was obtained in this Department that linolenic acid on hydrogenation forms precursors of reversion compounds. Investigation of means for the removal of linolenic acid from linseed or soybean oil triglycerides led to the use of thermal polymerization, followed by solvent segregation into an "edible" fraction …  Read more

Industries based on the forest resource - historically the fur trade, lumbering, and in the twentieth century, pulp and paper, have significantly shaped Canadian economic development. The study of the early forest industries has been most successfully treated by the economic historian. On the other hand, the pulp and paper industry, with the exception of the newsprint sector, has been relatively neglected by Canadian economists. We feel there is a need for an appraisal of this industry in terms of the welfare effects arising from its development. From this thesis the form of the present work emerges. What have been …  Read more

There are on the island of Trinidad four species of marsupials. This thesis deals with the parasites of two of them, Philander trinitatis (Thomas) and Didelphis marsupialis. The latter has two sub-species on the island, D.m. insularis (Allen) and D.m. karkinophaga (Zimmerman), the former being the predominant form. The latter is known throughout all of Central and South America as the crab-eating opossum. Both the species of Didelphis are known on the island by the inhabitants as the "Manicou". The Philander is known simply as "Philander". Two species of marsupials not included as hosts in this collection belong to the …  Read more

Investigation of the electrolysis of a zinc sulphate solution using lead anodes has shown that the corrosion resistance of the anodes, and hence the amount of lead in the cathode deposit is markedly affected by the time of electrolysis, the presence of impurities in solution and the presence of alloying elements in the anode. More specifically, the corrosion resistance of all anodes tested decreased with time; but this was partially offset by the presence of cobalt, manganese and silicic acid in the solution. Of the lead anodes tested the lead-silver anodes were by far the most corrosion resistant.  Read more

Differences in feeding value between the leaf, stem and head of the timothy plant, harvested at two stages of maturity, have been studied. Four Cheviot wethers were used in the determination of each digestibility coefficient. The leaf appeared to provide a major proportion of the total nutrients available from the plant. The stem was of inferior feeding value; it provided almost no protein. In the immature plant, a minor proportion of the total nutrients were obtained from the head. With maturity and seed formation, however, the head was of greater nutritional significance. Availability of all chemical entities studied decreased with …  Read more

During the field season of 1949, the writer was employed as assistant on an Ontario Department of Mines field survey party under Dr. E. W. Nuffield of the University of Toronto. On Dr. Nuffield1s suggestion the writer undertook the study of the Camray Discovery Dyke as a thesis problem. Camray Discovery Dyke is the diabase dyke on the property of Camray Mines, Limited, along which Robert Campbell discovered an earlier-reported deposit of pitchblende. The obvious areal relationship between the pitchblende and the diabase may be genetic and/or structural; and with this in mind the writer secured a fairly complete section …  Read more