McGill University Thèses et mémoires publiés en 1949

Since the beginning of mental testing, the concept of the normal distribution of human intelligence has influenced the theory of test construction to a great extent. This is understandable if intelligence itself is regarded in the light of the knowledge concerning other human properties, for there is then some justification to support the belief that it may be normally distributed in human beings. Unfortunately, however, the basic result of this concept in the field of mental test construction has been to effect the construction of tests which, owing to the properties of the normal curve, did not discriminate to the …  Lire la suite

A simple, portable instrument is described which employs the nuclear absorption method and the known value of the proton magnetic moment to determine magnetic field strength. No known fields and no geometrical calculations are required for calibration. The range covered by the present instrument is approximately 3000 to 19000 oersteds. No upper limit is inherent in the method. Homogeneity is required over a small cylindrical volume. Absolute accuracy of better than ± 0.2 percent is obtainable depending only on precise measurement of frequency. Higher accuracy is possible in comparing fields and in measuring field changes.  Lire la suite

The combustion of hydrocarbon fuels is essentially the more or less complete oxidation of the hydrogen and carbon constituents. The theoretical heat content per pound of fuel may be calculated from the known heat of combustion of hydrogen and carbon. The process of obtaining energy from the burning of liquid (and gaseous) hydrocarbons applies to a great number and range of heat engines; from the common coal-oil heater through a variety of internal combustion reciprocating engines, up to the present day gas turbine. From oil heaters to reciprocating engines to gas turbines, we ascend in an order of increasing refinement …  Lire la suite

Parmi les écrivains français qui ont eu le plus de prise sur la jeunesse de l’entre-deux guerres, Jean Giono demeure un de ceux dont la lecture ne saurait nous laisser indifférents. Car Giono est le contraire même de l’écrivain froid: un vent de passion anime toute son oeuvre, et déploie, comme autant de drapeaux, les idées qui l’ont suscitée ou inspirée. L’intensité même des sentiments, leur profondeur, leur authenticité ne peuvent qu’émouvoir profondément ou inspirer une répulsion totale. Il faut “aimer” Giono, ou le “détester”. Ce prophète d’un monde meilleur et ce devin des forces sournoises des plateaux de Provence …  Lire la suite

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of electroconvulsive shocks on gestation and maternal behavior in the multiparous rat. In a recent study, Rosvold (13, 14) investigated the effects of electroconvulsive shocks on gestation and maternal behavior in the nulliparous white rat raised in the Stanford laboratory. It was shown that electroconvulsive shocks disrupt pregnancy and interfere with such components of maternal behavior as nest building, parturition, lactation, cleaning of the young, retrieving and maintenance of the nest. Further, the seriousness of the effect seemed to be related to the period of pregnancy - lactation cycle during …  Lire la suite

When a suspension of cellulose fibres in water is shaken or stirred with sufficient violence to produce a uniform dispersion and allowed to come to rest, it is observed that the dispersion tends to become less uniform in distribution of fibres. This important but little understood phenomenon is termed “flocculation” by analogy to the coagulation of a colloidal dispersion. Flocculation is usually undesirable during certain stages in the process of paper making. If it occurs during or just prior to the forming of the sheet on the wire of the paper machine, the pulp fibres are distributed unevenly and a …  Lire la suite

The problem of early learning has been of increasing interest to psychologists in recent years. It has become clear that investigation of the effects of early experience upon adult behaviour is essential to a comprehensive understanding of that behaviour. This emphasis on early experience arises from a consideration of numerous experimental findings, as well as from the Freudian theory of psycho-sexual development.* Although doubt has been east upon the acceptability of some of these psychoanalytic principles (Orlansky, 1949) they have nevertheless provided a Stimulus to fruitful experimentation. It was shown by Hunt (1941) that rats suffering feeding-frustration during infancy tended …  Lire la suite

Macaroni is made from the coarse, ground middlings of the endosperm of durum wheat. This material is called semolina and closely resembles “cream of wheat” in appearance. The semolina is mixed with the minimum amount of water necessary to produce a homogeneous mass during the mixing stage. This mass then undergoes a kneading treatment, during which it becomes a smooth and cohesive dough. It is then extruded, under considerable pressure, through dies and is dried slowly under controlled temperature and humidity conditions. There are three principal criteria on which macaroni is judged. It must withstand prolonged boiling in water, retaining …  Lire la suite

The crowning achievement of the experimental study of diabetes has, so far, been the isolation and purification of insulin. Through this agent we have at our disposal an effective means of controlling clinical cases of diabetes and thus considerably improving the prognosis of the disease. The task of the experimental investigation of the disease, however, is far from having been completed. Not only are many of its biochemical mechanisms still obscure, but even the morphological changes in the islets of Langerhans, which are probably of fundamental importance, are only poorly understood. More than seventy years after the first description of …  Lire la suite

Our provisions for dependent groups in our communities are so conditioned by the moralistic philosophy of the past, and by our attitudes towards them as individuals, that it becomes necessary from time to time to evaluate our thinking in this connection. It is somewhat disconcerting to discover that many of our present provisions for dependents in our society continue to be based on the theories that were widely held as far back as the seventeenth century. We are all too familiar with the reaction that meets any new social welfare measure which aims at putting certain economic props under various …  Lire la suite

From the defeat of Llewelyn by Mortimer in 1284 until the union with England in 1536 the Welsh had continued proudly to regard themselves as an independent nation. Conquered many times in battle, the Welsh chieftains had always withdrawn to their mountain retreats, where pursuit and decisive overthrow had been impossible. Even in defeat such a chieftain as Owen Glyndwr was able to communicate to his people a clear vision of their future as an independent nation. Indeed [...]these Welsh people regarded such a losing battle as a spiritual triumph, and they were never less united to England than in …  Lire la suite

The Bourget map-area is bounded by latitudes 48030' N and 48°45' N and longitudes 71°15' W and 71°30' W, and includes Bourget Township, the larger part of Begin Township, as well as parts of the townships of Labrecque, Taché, Falardeau and Kenogami, all in Chicoutimi County, Quebec. Most parts of the area are readily accessible, being traversed by numerous gravelled roads connected with Chicoutimi, Jonquière, and St. Joseph d’Alma. These towns are connected by the Canadian National Railways with Quebec and Montreal. In addition, the Saguenay River is navigable up to Chicoutimi. Physiographically, the Bourget map-area lies within the belt …  Lire la suite

The minute size of the bacterial cell and the fact that the bacteria is unicellular has made the problem of liberating the bacterial nucleoproteins difficult, and has led to numerous devices and methods for breaking the cells. The methods for releasing bacterial intracellular proteins might be classified thus: I Mechanical II Sonic or Ultrasonic Vibration III Freezing and Thawing IV Chemical Treatments.[...]  Lire la suite

The immediate interest in the problem under investigation was aroused while the author was interning at the Children’s Memorial Hospital. In the course of following several cases of acute haematogenous osteomyelitis it was stated by one of the attending staff that it was his clinical impression that the appearance of lymphadenopathy did not occur until the infective process has spread beyond the confines of the bone involved to the surrounding soft tissues.[...] Certainly if the lymphatic glands do not become enlarged until the tissues about the involved bone become infected, lymphadenopathy would give some indication of the extent of the …  Lire la suite

The present work is a continuation of an investigation initiated by Brown and Purves (1). They found that the nitrogen content of a cellulose nitrate from solventextracted cotton, linters could be varied by pre treatments of the starting material, using strictly physical methods which could promote no change in chemical composition. A mercerized sample of cotton linters which had a high nitration reactivity could be converted to a topochemical modification with a lower nitration reactivity by the simple operation of drying from water rather than through the solvent exchange series : water - methanol - benzene. It was the immediate …  Lire la suite

Available evidence leads us to believe that all parasitic nematodes have been derived at one time or another, from free-living nematode ancestors. The assumption of a parasitic existence has probably occurred at different periods during the evolutionary history of these worms, and therefore no one group of the present free-living nematodes can be said to have given rise to all parasitic forms. In spite of modifications and adaptations due to a parasitic life, all nematodes, whether free-living or parasitic, seem to have originated from the same evolutionary stem. On the basis of morphological similarity Baylis and Daubney (1926) united both …  Lire la suite

Chipman, R. (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

At the outset the purpose of the present investigation was to fit another piece into the puzzle of cortical representation of autonomic function. This work is a part of a long term investigation aimed at the elucidation of the relation of the cerebral cortex to the physiology of visceration (Yakowlev). The particular facet of this problem upon which attention is focused is the cortical control of gastric function. The present paper is a continuation of work begun by Dr. T.J. Speakman in 1947. As seems inevitable in the field of play of autonomic physiology, lack of specificity, simultaneous firing of …  Lire la suite

An exchange reaction is a reaction in which an atom in a molecule interchanges with a chemically identical atom in some other state of chemical combination. The reaction may be represented by the equation AB + B*C = AB* + BC where B and B* represent atoms which are chemically identical but physically distinguishable. To follow the course of the reaction there must be some means of completely separating AB and BC after allowing them to mix and react for a given time. In addition, for quantitative calculations of the exchange, the physical property which distinguishes the atom must be …  Lire la suite

The first consideration in the storage of eggs is the combatting of microbial spoilage. It is a well known fact that a high proportion of the eggs of the domestic hen (Gallus domesticus) are sterile internally in the bacterial sense at the time of laying, and for some time afterwards, though a microbial flora soon accumulates on the shell. However, there are instances in the literature of infection of the ovary by bacteria which can be transmitted to the egg. This is especially true with organisms of the Salmonella group responsible for bacillary white diarrhoea of the hen. This work …  Lire la suite

This paper constitutes the writer’s first trial in experimental work in the field of Social Psychology. It stresses the present experimental study rather than a theoretical exposition of the problems and psychological implications of attitudes in general or feelings toward the Negro in particular.[...]  Lire la suite

Linseed, corn, peanut, soybean and rape-seed oils, heated at 275 C were incorporated in the basal diets of rats at levels of 10, 20 or 36% by weight. Linseed oil was rendered toxic to young rats by treatment for 12 hours, but 30 hours heating was required to reduce the nutritive value of the other oils. Toxicity symptoms were non-specific but in severe cases included darkened adrenals, weight losses, diarrhea and death within 14 days. Acetone segregation partially concentrated the toxic factor in the soluble fraction of the oil, suggesting a specific polymer might be responsible. Of the various supplements …  Lire la suite

Schon im Eingangsmonolog tritt uns Eaust als Übermensch entgegen, als Einzelgänger in dem ein dämonischer Erkenntnisdrang soeben die intellektuellen (I) und moralischen (2) Schranken durchbrochen hat, die den Durchschnittsmenschen als ungeteiltes ‘Individuum’ umfassen und ihn - wenigstens auf dem moralischen Boden dem die Faustsage entsprang - zu seinem eigenen Heil begrenzen. Am Anfang der Dichtung bricht Faust auseinander; er hat sich der Magie ergeben und wünscht sich von ihr Befriedigung seiner beiden Übermacht igen Triebe: der Forderung nach unbedingter, restloser Erkenntnis dessen, “was die Welt im Innersten zusammenhält”, und der Sehnsucht nach einem völligen Aufgehen in der Natur (3).[...]  Lire la suite

[...] The study of Ezra Pound is a complex study. He,treats many themes in a highly individualistic manner but one thread does permeate through all of his poetry — the sense of the past. It is not a limited past restricted to one culture. Pound jumps from Provencal, Chinese, Roman, Italian to the London of the 1890fs with ease. In order to understand the necessity of this retreat, and the development of his writing within so loose a framework, it is necessary for the reader to examine, in chronological order, Ezra Pound as a personality together with Ezra Pound as …  Lire la suite

Tuberculosis is an old and well-known disease that may affect different organs of the human body. The specific etiologic agent is a microscopic bacterium, called the tubercle bacillus which was originally described by Koch in 1870. Since then, many steps have been taken towards improving the treatment of this disease, but as its microbe is so easily spread by coughing or sneezing and in many other ways, it still constitutes a very great problem in public health. We are aiming towards the goal where the preventive measures will reduce the task considerably. But as in the case of many other …  Lire la suite

[...]Realizing the great deficiency of knowledge in this field, the Wood Chemistry Committee of the Technical Section, Canadian Pulp and Paper Association, recommended a thorough investigation of the effects of halogen-containing oxidants on wood and its constituents. This research was very capably initiated by Dr. R.M. Husband, who undertook a carefully controlled study of the actions of sodium chlorite and chlorine dioxide on such model substances of lignin as pyrogallol, vanillin and syringealdehyde. It was hoped that these model studies would provide valuable information which would be helpful in the later studies of the oxidation of the more complex lignin …  Lire la suite

There are tremendous quantities of waste from the wood pulping industry. In Canada alone 2,027,532 tons (1) of sulphite pulp were produced in 1947 from which there was approximately 2,500,000 tons of unused solids in the sulphite waste liquor. Although a number of means of utilizing this material have been suggested, the only promising outlet for large quantities at present is as fuel and the economics of even this procedure are not yet proven for conditions as they exist on this continent. Most of the liquor is at present discharged into streams. The absence of a practical use for the …  Lire la suite

Digestibility experiments were conducted with swine using the rations fed during two growth trials. The calculated gross energies of the feeds were lower than the determined values and the digestible energy of a ground, balanced hog ration could be determined from a formula based upon its crude fibre content. The metabolizable energy was not found to be a more suitable evaluation of the diets than the digestible energy. Thus the latter figures were used when the effects of caloric intake upon carcass quality were studied. In that section the percentages of the variations in the carcass measurements attributable to the …  Lire la suite

Thomas Stearns Eliot has unquestionably influenced English poetry. Just how profound this influence is cannot at present be estimated, but up to now he has been without doubt the most influential writer of his time. [...] In the following paper I have therefore tried to examine impartially, in the light that is shed on them by his own poetry, the critical remarks Eliot has made concerning poetry. What emerges from this examination leads to the conclusion that there is a unity, albeit qualified, in Eliot's writings as a whole. [...] I have approached the subject largely from the critical side …  Lire la suite

The present study concerns itself with an aspect of public finance which is as old as the existence of national governments. But the approach differs somewhat from the treatment found elsewhere, inasmuch as it is not concerned with the desirability of debt retirement per se, but with the monetary effects which such retirement will tend to produce. The conclusions drawn from the analysis will, however, inevitably suggest certain attitudes towards the question of debt management policy. This thesis grew out of a vague sense of dissatisfaction on the part of the writer and his colleagues in the Graduate School with …  Lire la suite

A study of the nutrition of Corynebacteiium sepedonicum was carried out using both plate culture methods and the Warburg Respiration Apparatus. Fresh potato extract was found to contain a factor or factors essential for the growth of C. sepedonicum. A temperature of 23° C. and a pH of 7.0 were found to be optimum for growth. A relatively high oxidation - reduction potential (Eh) stimulated the growth of the organism. Pantothenic acid, inositol, thiamine and para-ami nobenzoic acid, added respectively in concentrations of 600, 3000, 200 and 3000 u grams per litre of medium, caused a significant increase in the …  Lire la suite

Canadian crops capable of yielding a suitable supply of vegetable protein for use in chick rations are relatively few in number. Investigations were, therefore, undertaken by the Poultry Department of this College to explore the comparative feeding value of some lesser used, but climatically adapted sources of vegetable protein. Since the horsebean thrives in certain regions of Eastern Canada it was selected for study with a view to the possible extension of its use as a source of vegetable protein in poultry and other rations. The horsebean is a member of the Leguminoseae and has been cultivated for hundreds of …  Lire la suite

The problem of morale has been receiving increasing attention from social scientists since World War I. Gradually, over the intervening period between wars, it has become an important aspect of the broader problem of discovering the principles of managing and organizing human activity. The literature on human relations in industry contains many references to morale and many large scale research projects in this field include attempts to estimate the morale levels of individuals and groups. During the recent war, of course, interest in this problem was heightened. Apart from a concern about morale in the more restricted social groupings of …  Lire la suite

In the literature of the topic investigated below are two types of derivations, those using the spatial part of the wave function of the system, incident particle and target nucleus, and those using the time dependence mainly. The latter type of derivation has been open to question because of the attack, based on the time dependent perturbation theory of Dirac. It is the intention here, among other things, to separate the use of the time dependence of the wave function from this conventional perturbation theory. A successful derivation of cross section formulae follows from a modified version. The method used …  Lire la suite

The present day necessity of installing multi-tower antenna arrays for many transmitters in the broadcast band (540 kc. to 1600 kc.) in order to prescribe the pattern of their radiated fields, brings with it the need for longer transmission lines. The transmission efficiency of a line should, of course, be a maximum compatible with economical installation and good engineering practice, since this portion of the system carries the most expensive energy of a transmitter plant. Furthermore, in Canada and the U.S. at least, government regulations limit the amount of power that can be lost in the external circuits i.e. power-dividing …  Lire la suite

The Boys’ Farm and Training School, Shawbridge, Quebec, is operated for the re-education of boys who have delinquent and other behaviour problems. Most of the boys at the Training School are committed by the Juvenile Court in Montreal and by other law-enforcing agencies [...]. During the years of World War II, the Juvenile Court had many boys examined at the Mental Hygiene Institute on Pine Avenue in Montreal, before committing them to the Boys’ Farm and Training School. The School found it helpful to return some of these boys [...] for further psychiatric help. When wartime shortages of staff eased …  Lire la suite

The present study was first undertaken with the purpose of finding, in the Province of Quebec, the public and private institutions that accepted responsibility for the care of the congenitally abnormal child. The writer soon became aware of the limited resources in this province. During the course of this exploration this problem seemed to be overshadowed by other greater problems. Where were these children going upon hospital discharge? Who was giving them the care needed? Did the parents care for the child in the home? How did this placement in the home affect the parents and siblings? Parents, particularly, are …  Lire la suite

The presence of an addition agent during the electrodeposition of a metal introduces further complications into a system in which the processes that occur are but poorly understood at the present time. The relations between the variables, even in a simple electrodeposition of a metal from a solution of one of its salts, have for the most part not proven amenable to any general mathematical formulation and individual investigations have usually been restricted to the study of one or two variables over a comparatively narrow range of experimental conditions. Explanation of results has frequently involved the formation of a new …  Lire la suite

Otter Rapids are located on the Abitibi River in the west-central portion of Pitt Township, District of Cochrane, Province of Ontario, at about Latitude 51°10’ North and Longitude 81°30’ West. They are approximately 79 miles west of north from the town of Cochrane and 87 miles southwest of Moosonee, which lies 12 miles south of James Bay. These towns serve respectively as the south and north terminals of the northern branch of the Ontario Northland Railway. The railway permits easy access to the area, since it closely parallels the west bank of the river for several miles to the north …  Lire la suite

The function of the central nervous system in the body is to control its response to physiological needs, and for the most part these needs are communicated to the central nervous system by messages sent through the afferent nerves. It responds by sending out impulses, which travel through the efferent nerves to the effector organs, it has been known since the days of Galvani that the stimulation of a nerve, whether by natural or artificial means, produces an excitation in the effector organ, and that this excitation is propagated in the nerve, and is accompanied by an electrical wave. It …  Lire la suite

It has been frequently observed that wide individual differences exist in what Wolff and Hardy have calles the reaction to pain. However cases, in which the usual behavioral and physiological responses to noxious stimili are apparently totally absent, are rare and strange enough to have aroused considerable scientific interest. Many of these cases not only exhibit absence of reaction to pain, but through verbal report have led investigators to infer that the direct perceptual experience of usually painful stimli os ,arkedly different from normal.[...]  Lire la suite

Malmo, R. B. (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

Among the consequences of modern democratic government has been the emergence of political parties as agencies through which economic and social tensions are aired, and ultimately settled insofar as settlement is possible. Behind the institutions formalized in law and tradition, issues of state tend to be decided within the ranks of the political party which can, at any given moment, command the confidence of a majority of the electorate. This is especially true of the nations of the Commonwealth, and such other states in which the institutions of parliamentary government, and possibly national characteristics of the citizenry, make for a …  Lire la suite

The development of an organism may be considered as the most outstanding of all its physiological properties. It is generally understood however, that this property of living natter embodies the corelative properties of growth and differentiation (Wetzel, 1944). In the strictest usage, growth is that fundamental property of living matter responsible only for increases or decreases in the size or the number of the organisms concerned. Thus it is possible to speak of both positive and negative growth. Differentiation, on the other hand, results in specific structural changes of the parts of the organism. In this thesis whenever the term …  Lire la suite

Penfield, W. (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

A study of the Pacific salmon, sockeye (Oncorhynchus nerka, (Walbaum), pink (0. gorbuscha. (Walbaum), spring (0. tshawytscha, (Walbaum)), coho (0. kisutch. (Walbaum)), chum (0. keta, (Walbaum)), and the steelhead trout (Salmo galrdnerlii, Richardson), was carried out during the summers of 1946 and 1947 in conjunction with the general programme of the Skeena River Salmon Investigation which has been conducted by the Fisheries Research Board of Canada since 1944. During the winter of 1946-47, while at McGill University, Montreal, Que., the morphometric data and systematic counts collected during the first summer were analysed and a male and female of each species …  Lire la suite

No contemporary psychologist would deny that the problems of learning and perception are intimately related. But how they are related and the degree to which they are interdependent has never been considered systematically. Hilgard (6, p. 181) has pointed to what is in all probability the major stumbling block. Leading theorists have been too long preoccupied with either one or the other of the two fields of investigation, and it can be fairly said that they have neglected the relationship between them. Kohler (9, p. 192), for example, would have us believe that if past experience does exert an influence …  Lire la suite

Although Labrador is the oldest discovered portion of the North American mainland it has remained isolated from the general development of the continent and, even today, knowledge of its climate and geography is still far from complete. The establishment of weather stations throughout the Ungava Peninsula during the war has recently made available more material from which to deduce the atmospheric conditions of the region. The purpose of the present study is to examine the results shown by this slowly growing mass of meteorological data and from it and other existing records make some evaluation of climatic conditions and their …  Lire la suite