McGill University Thèses et mémoires publiés en 1951

Neuroanatomy is one of the biological sciences. Its achievements are more or less valuable for any of the other branches of biology. But the first goal of neuroanatomy is to form a morphological basis for the neurobiological sciences. Neurobiology comprises the total of all problems related to the functioning of the nervous system. An incentive to study these problems springs from two sources. First, as has been expected, the understanding of the functioning of the nervous system may help to prevent and cure its diseases. Second, the nervous system has attracted the attention of all those who have been interested …  Read more

Statement of the problem. It was the purpose of this study (1) to describe the meteorological conditions on the Barnes Ice-cap during the months of June, July and August 1950; (2) to describe the ablation in that period; and (3) to show the relationship between ablation and meteorological conditions. Importance of the study. Nothing has been known about the climate of the ablation period on any Canadian glacier or ice-cap. Wood noted that previous to 1948 it was difficult to recall a single example of studies carried out in North America and devoted to the great areas of snow accumulation. …  Read more

This work is being attempted to study the type, genesis and commercial possibilities of a series of very large bodies of massive pure quartz in the Watshishou Knoll area. The writer spent eight days during the fall of 1949 mapping the area on a scale of 1138 feet to the inch. Specimens were collected,and were subsequently studied in the laboratories of McGill University. [...]  Read more

Corynebacterium sepedonicum (Spiekermann and Kothoff), Skaptason and Burkholder, is the causal agent or bacterial ring rot of potatoes. Histological observations have invariably revealed that it primarily inhabits the water conducting vessels of the potato. [...]  Read more

The definition: An isochrone is a line connecting all the points equally distant in time from a given centre. (Gr. isos equal + chronos time). The purpose of the study: The purpose of this isochronic study is to determine the patterns of relative accessibility centred on the two cities of Winnipeg and Montreal. [...]  Read more

Elledge, C. H. (Supervisor)  Read more

The recent development of the method of nuclear magnetic resonance has provided a powerful tool for studying the properties of magnetic systems in solids and liquids. The magnetic properties of the nucleus, the properties of spin and magnetic moment, were first postulated to account for the hyperfine structure of spectral lines. [...]  Read more

During the past half century, triphenylmethyl and other triarylmethyl free radicals have been prepared in solution by the action of certain metals on the appropriate triarylmethyl halide. While the extensive literature on the subject contains references to the times required for such reactions to proceed to their maximum extents, which are generally short of completion, it appears that no kinetic study of any of the reactions has ever been made. As a consequence, optimal conditions for the preparation of these free radicals have never been established, nor has any serious consideration been given to the mechanism of the reactions involved …  Read more

In the study of the relation between vapours and adsorbing media, the adsorption isotherm -relating the mass adsorbed to the vapour pressure- is the most important single datum. For a wide variety of substances, such as wood, paper, wool, cotton, keratin, wheat, this isotherm has a sigmoid shape; a large amount of experimental data have been amassed but so far no completely satisfactory theory has been given to account for the shape or the commonly observed hysteresis of the isotherm. [...]  Read more

The present experiment is an attempt to show how conditions that lead to a fixated response may account for some contradictory results in learning experiments. More specifically, it will be shown that overlearning fixates a response in terms of its kinesthetic-motor pattern so that a fixated response will not readily give way to more appropriate behavior under experimental conditions that require a change in the kinesthetic-motor response. [...]  Read more

Bacteria and other micro-organisms play a very important role in the alteration and decomposition of proteins in nature. Although the proteolytic enzyme systems of animals have been fairly well studied and classified, comparatively little is known about these systems in micro-organisms. [...]  Read more

Dormancy in seeds of eight weeds, collected in the Province of Quebec, was studied in 1949 and 1950. The work reported herein was aimed at determining the presence of dormancy in freshly harvested seed; the effect of dry storage; the effect of stratification at low temperatures both in the laboratory and under simulated field conditions; the germinating capacity of unstratified seed in the soil; and the share of the seed coats in delaying germination. Germinating capacity of freshly harvested seed varied, depending on species, from zero to almost 100%. Dry storage was beneficial in increasing the germination percentages. Stratification at …  Read more

In recent years the need has arisen for closely regulated voltage supplies. A few typical applications where such requirements have to be satisfied are found in work involving the use of high-frequency oscillators (klystrons), photoelectric apparatus, electronic measuring instruments and test equipment. [...]  Read more

As indicated by the title, the purpose of this thesis is to study the consequences, both social and emotional, for the family unit when it is confronted with the problem of adjustment to the presence of an educable feeble-minded child. An attempt will be made to study the factors which influence the success or failure of this adjustment in relation to the interplay of personalities within the family and in terms of some of the broader environmental influences. [...]  Read more

It is a well established fact that morphine is more toxic to young animals than to old. (see Literature Review, section C-l) Since morphine is known to act on the central nervous system, it was hoped that the investigation of its effects on brain metabolism "in vitro" in relation to age of the animal, might be another step towards the understanding of its mode of action "in vivo". [...]  Read more

For many years Labrador has been a land of mystery. The country is not well known, though today for economic reasons, its development is more apparent. Knowledge of the geography of the country is more complete than that of the geology. [...]  Read more

A great many geologists have visited the area and other regions where the Cobalt rocks are exposed. Although nearly all have expressed opinions on the geological problems concerned with the series, very few comprehensive reports have been published and these do not show complete agreement. [...]  Read more

The area studied is situated in the southwestern part of Quebec Province near the Ontario border south of the Canadian Shield and along the Lake of Two Mountains. The area is approximately 463 square miles in size. [...]  Read more

Butomus umbellatus, L. (commonly known as "The Flowering Rush") is an aquatic herbaceous perennial with a thick horizontal rootstock. The sword shaped leaves are all basal and a erect. The plant has pink regular and hermaphroditic flowers borne on long pedicels of unequal length and arranged in the form of an umbel. [...]  Read more

The "boundary layer" is defined as the region in the flow field of a fluid in which the viscous forces are not negligible. For flow relative to an object, this region is one of small thickness adjacent to the surface of the object. [...]  Read more

This study was undertaken as a continuation of the investigation of the preservation of blood started at the beginning of World War II in the department of biochemistry at McGill University by Collip and Denstedt. At that time the only reliable method for testing the viability of the cells in a preserved sample and the efficiency of a preservative solution, or method was the laborious biological procedure of transfusing the preserved cells and following the rate of elimination of the donor cells in the recipient. [...]  Read more

This study on the metabolism of the avian erythroeyte is part of the investigation on the preservation of blood undertaken at the beginning of World War II in the Department of Bioehemistry at McGill University by Collip and Denstedt. As the investigation progressed it beeame apparent that the viability of the preserved erythrocyte is intimately related to the metabolic state of the cell. In other words, the 108s of viability is eaused by the failure of the energy yielding meehanisms of the cell. [...]  Read more

Though resemblance between lesions induced experimentallY in animals and those characterizing diseases in man is no warrant of a common aetiology and pathogenesis, there is a distinct probability that there are certain aetiologic and pathogenetic factors in common. [...]  Read more

In effect, the purpose of this study is implied by the title it bears, "Geography of Roads West of Lake Wiinnipeg, Inter-Lake Area". The aim, in the chapters following, is to outline in some detail the varied factors bearing influence on the roads of this area, and in due order, to consider the influences exerted by the roads themselves upon the cultural environment. [...]  Read more

The useful mechanical power in Induction Machines is supplied by the force applied tangentially to the rotor and stator. This force is caused by the interaction of the first harmonic of the rotating field, and of the current distribution along the stator and rotor peripheries. [...]  Read more

Clay materials have been used by man for many centuries, especially in the fields of ceramics and agricultural industry. In ceramics, clays provided a source of raw material for pottery and brick making. [...]  Read more

Very generally by rigidity the writer understands a personality phenomenon vmich is determined by past experience, present experience, constitution--all or any of these (if they be deemed separable). It functions as a persisting effect, resisting forces that tend to produce changes in behavior. [...]  Read more

In 1822 Cagniard de la Tour published the observation (15) that the meniscus separating the liquid from the gaseous phase in a closed glass “bomb” containing the two phases suddenly disappeared when the bomb was heated past a certain temperature. This phenomenon was systematically investigated by Andrews with carbon dioxide in 1869 (3) and his results, extended theoretically by van der Waals shortly afterwards, form the basis of the well known Andrews-van der Waals theory of the continuity of the liquid and gaseous state and of the concept of a -uniquely defined critical point (87). The far reaching implications of …  Read more

Within the last decade the availability of several radioactive isotopes, principally I^131, has given great impetus to studies in thyroid physiology. By the use of this radio-element, evidence has accumulated to show that the circulating thyroid hormone is thyroxine, loosely bound to plasma proteins. It was considered of importance to investigate the fate of this hormone in the body. This was done by means of thyroxine labeled with radio-iodine. In the past, this problem has been investigated in normal animals. The present investigation was intended to find out whether or not the fate of thyroxine in the body was influenced …  Read more

The circulating bearn current of the McGill synchro-cyclotron has been determined by an absolute evaluation of the ß-activity induced in the carbon constituent of thin polyethylene foils under the bombardment of energetic protons. [...]  Read more

This thesis is an effort to trace the career of .David Urquhart until the year 1841, as an illustration of an attempt to organise public opinion for the purpose of influencing foreign policy during the l830’s, and to examine the degree to which these efforts were successful. One biography of David Urquhart was published by Miss Gertrude Robinson in 1920. This is a useful book since it presents a good deal of material from the Urquhart Papers. Yet Miss Robinson is obviously a friend of the family, and has refrained from making an effort at serious criticism. The same may …  Read more

As a social work student at the Children's Memorial Hospital, the writer became interested in the manifold problems presented in surgery with children. The Children's Memorial Hospital is a teaching hospital and interest in this study was encouraged. [...]  Read more

During the pulping of wood by the sulfate or kraft process, esters of fatty and resin acids are hydrolyzed to yield sodium soaps of fatty and resin acids together with neutral substances. When the pulping process is complete the cooking liquor is withdrawn and evaporated as the first step in recovering the pulping chemicals. [...]  Read more

Human behaviour is usually characterized as being highly original, adaptive, and variable. This fact cannot be denied, and is usually accentuated by studies in Comparative Psychology. The human can undertake a great variety of behavioural and cognitive activities when compared with infra-human species. Notwithstanding this outstanding feature of Homo Sapiens, it still remains true that in certain situations, and under certain conditions, Man's behavioural and thought processes are marked by stereotypy. This characteristic of behaviour has been labelled perseveration, habituation, and rigidification. The investigation reported in this paper is oriented toward an understanding of this particular behavioural phenomenon. [...]  Read more

The Helminthosporium disease of Portulaca oleracea L. (purslane) was first discovered and described as it occurred on purslane by Rader (59) in 1948. He proved that the disease was due to an unknown pathogenic fungus which he described briefly and named Helminthosporium portulacae nov. sp. In 1940, a diseased rose moss specimen from a private garden in Gananoque, Ontario, was sent to the Central Laboratory of the Division of Botany and Plant Pathology, at Ottawa, Ontario, for diagnosis. Various fungi were found fruiting on the specimen, but an unfamiliar one seemed to predominate. This organism was not isolated, but it …  Read more

Livestock and poultry nutritionists have long realized the importance of rations containing protein from animal sources, for rapid growth and high hatchability. Recently it has been discovered that one of the values of animal proteins lies in their supply of vitamin-like growth factors, which are found to be lacking in plant proteins. [...]  Read more

The weave of life is a complexity of ethical and economic decisions. The 'design for living', the pattern which would be recorded in the annals of time should anyone take the trouble, is essentially the changing system of 'ends' towards which our endeavours have been directed over the years. [...]  Read more

Stevenson, J. (Supervisor)  Read more

Agronomic characteristics and adaptability of L. corniculatus strains were studied by seeding with timothy, in pure stand and with a nurse crop at Macdonald College. Germination tests and root studies were conducted on L. corniculatus. L. corniculatus and L. uliginosus were compared morphologically and for resistance to flooding and 2, 4-D. The nurse crop retarded birdsfoot establishment but pure stand and birdsfoot-timothy plots yielded substantially during the first season. Hard seeds in birdsfoot samples suggest the use of scarified seed. Extensive root development of young trefoil seedlings is associated with restricted topgrowth. L. corniculatus prostrate types demonstrated superior winter survival …  Read more

This study is concerned with cancer patients who are cared for at home during some part or their teminal illneas. The problem of chronic illness and disability, of which cancer is only one major cause, is an ever increasing one. A higher incidence of chronic illness can be expected in the years to come because the life span has grown longer, and degenerative diseases become more prevalent as the individual grows older. [...]  Read more

Stevenson, J. (Supervisor)  Read more

A recent study by Lansdell (20) demonstrated rather conclusively that deficit in performance on a 'closed-field' test of rat intelligence was very closely associated with degeneration in the lateral geniculate nucleus, the most reliable indication of loss in the primary visual system. [...]  Read more

With the termination of the last World War, pile-produced radioactive isotopes have become generally available. As a result, the tracer technique has become an important tool in all branches of scientific research. This technique had early application in biochemical research and its usefulness is borne out by the large number of publications using radioactive tracers, which appear every month in scientific journals. Because of the very important role that is played by carbon in our physical and biological world, the outstanding importance of a radioactive isotope of carbon is readily seen. It affords a tool by which, for example, one …  Read more

Great progress has been made by medical science today toward the successful treatment of many diseases so that they no longer present the same threat to man's existence. Along with this, increasing attention is being directed toward those patients who return again and again to the clinic or the private doctor with complaints for which no organic basis can be found. [...]  Read more

Clients tend to bring all their personal, familial and financial problems to a family agency. At the agency they are interviewed by professional social workers with a view to giving help in the area of the client's need. This professional help is called social casework. [...]  Read more

The property is situated two and a half miles northeast of the village of Brookfield, Colchester County, Nova Scotia, at about Latitude 45° 15’ 20" North and Longitude 63° l4’ 18" West. The city of Truro, a main rail centre for the Maritimes, lies twelve miles to the north. Halifax, with its excellent shipping facilities, is situated 54 miles south of Brookfield. The main line of the Canadian National Railway passes through Brookfield, and links Halifax with Truro. A good dirt road permits easy access to the area from the village of Brookfield. One mile east of the village, this …  Read more

In 1933 Walter de M. Scriver and Horst Oertel of McGill University reported three occurrences of a condition which they termed, "Necrotic Sequestration of the Kidneys in Pregnancy (Symmetrical Cortical Necrosis)"(l). In the same report they included a review of the literature dealing with the condition. Scriver described it as a comparatively clear-cut clinical entity, the outstanding features being anuria or oliguria and marked azotemia, the picture resembling that seen in bilateral obstruction of the ureters. The literature reviewed included isolated instances occurring during the course of infectious diseases (diphtheria, pulmonary tuberculosis, dysentery, pneumonia and peritonitis), but by far the …  Read more

This experimental investigation was undertaken with the hope that further information would be acquired concerning the properties of streptococcal hyaluronidase and the immunological specificity of its antienzyme. The potential and present importance of serum antihyaluronidase in the blood of individuals inflicted with various diseases is rapidly becoming recognized. [...]  Read more

The relationship of the thalamus to the cortex is twofold. In addition to the well-known corticopetal system of fibers there is a corticofugal system which projects back to the thalamus. The corticopetal system consists of the group of specific thalamocortical projections described in Walker’s monograph (1938), together with the diffuse projections to the cortex of the thalamic reticular system recently discussed by Jasper (1949b). The parallel but less precise system of fibers, the corticothalamic pathways,has been mentioned by many investigators since von Monakow (1895) first suggested that fibers from the cerebral cortex terminate in the nuclei of the thalamus. It …  Read more

Although Labrador was the first part of the new world to be discovered, its inhospitable climate and terrain have resulted in its being one of the least known areas of North America. Owing to the inaccessibility of the interior, it was not until the last few years of the past century that anyone had entered the country with the express purpose of studying its geology. However, during the last decade the added strategic importance of the country, along with the exploitation of the vast deposits of rich iron ore, have led to more rapid opening up of the hinterland of …  Read more