McGill University Thèses et mémoires publiés en 1954

Gastric secretion has been a subject of intensive investigation by a veritable army of investigators for well over a hundred years. The major stimulus for this work originated with the astute observations and pertinent experiments of the American Army Surgeon, William Beaumont, on the French Canadian lumberjack, Alexis St. Martin, in the early nineteenth century.  Lire la suite

Field and laboratory etudies of the onion maggot Hylemva antigua. (Meigen), its li fe history, depredations, host range and preference, predators, and importance relative to associated dipterous species, were conducted in a commercial onion growing district, on muck soil, at Ste-Clothilde, Q,uébec, during 1952. The insect went through three generations in the year. It overwintered as a pupa. Egg laying commenced late in May. Comparison with other etudies showed the life history to be unaffected by the muck soil habitat.  Lire la suite

The betterment of living conditions in what are lengthily and sometimes inadequately (since the underdevelopment of some is not limited to the economic field) described as the economically underdeveloped countries has come to be regarded within the last years not only as an aim, but to some extent a responsibility of the more advanced nations. It is also more consciously than ever one of the more important preoccupations of the governments of the economically backward countries. [...]  Lire la suite

Farmers the world over have from time to time been confronted with the question of how long it takes a certain crop to mature. While the answer to this question may be of general interest, it is particularly important in those areas where the frost free period is short or draught sets in early in the season, for, unless a crop can be brought to maturity before adverse weather conditions set in, growing the crop in the particular locality may not be an economic proposition.  Lire la suite

The ovary was not known to be an organ of internal secretion until the turn of this century, although as early as 1775 de Bordeu of Montpellier advanced the concept of special tissue ferments or internal secretion. This concept was extended by Le Gallois, in 1801 (1). The first demonstration of hormonal action was shown by Berthold, in 1829 (2), when he extirpated the testes of a cockerel and found regression of its secondary sexual characteristics. [...]  Lire la suite

An analysis has been made of secondary emission spectra from copper and silver to discover the main features of the energy distribution of the electrons. Particular attention has been paid to the dependence of these spectra upon the energy of the bombarding electrons. For this purpose an experimental tube has been built. The principle of analysis which has been used is the differential deflection of electrons, according to their energies, by a transverse electric field. [...]  Lire la suite

The present work was initiated in an attempt to elucidate further the role of the adrenalcortical hormones in ketoacidosis. Many of the early studies on this problem were done with inadequate analytical methods, and were based on experimental approaches now known to be invalid. In recent years the availability of larger amounts of crystalline adrenal hormones, and of highly purified pituitary adrenocorticotropic hormone has led to a renewal of interest in the problem of ketosis; yet the results of recent experiments have often appeared to be just as incompatible as those of earlier studies. [...]  Lire la suite

Cladosporium herbarum (Pers.) Link is an Imperfect Fungus found abundantly in the soil. It is generally saprophytic, rarely parasitic, and probably its main role in the natural environment is to assist in the decomposition of vegetable matter. Its spores are most abundant in the atmosphere being present in every location tested so far by Pady and Kelly (1953, 1954) and Kelly and Pady (1953). [...]  Lire la suite

Renewed interest has developed in the status of the pancreatic islets, following the availability of purified growth hormone preparations. In the Fall of 1953 it was observed that the alloxan-diabetic rats receiving purified growth hormone, showed a considerable reduction in blood sugar, as compared with the control animals. This attracted the interest of our Director Dr. D.R. Webster, who envisaged the possibility of investigating the insulotropic effect of growth hormone, and its possible role in the etiology of islet cell tumour. [...]  Lire la suite

This thesis represents an attempt to understand the present direction of Turkish Society in terms of its various linguistic and literary reforms. Using a historical approach, we have first determined the role of language in the earlier Islamic-oriented, Ottoman society. After treating the political, economic and intellectual crises of the declining Empire in some detail, we are able to see the lines of the twentieth century intellectual and political developments slowly unfold under the tutelage of the Western-oriented, Turkish leaders. [...]  Lire la suite

Language is said to be the prerequisite to the development of culture. It follows, then, that new cultural experiences require an increase in the resources of a language. We can only conceive of reality in terms of our linguistic symbols of reference to it, say the linguistic experts, and these linguistic symbols are accurate only in terms of a known pattern of reference or of a known pattern of expression. The main functions of a language, in so far as they can be broken down, include: communication, socialization, and cultural accumulation.  Lire la suite

One of the most difficult problems with which aviation lawyers have had to concern themselves is the problem of compensation for damages caused by aircraft to persons and property on the surface of the earth. Planes in the course of flight traverse the flight space above private property and at any moment for innumerable known and unknown reasons may come falling to the surface causing damage to persons and property thereon. This perplexing problem has been of grave concern in both national and international fields for quite some time. On the international level the world’s most brilliant legal talent have …  Lire la suite

In the 1953 research it was recommended that a control study be undertaken with groups of normal children. This was suggested as a means of further testing MacLeod's hypothesis, and to investigate the possibility that similar complaints and complaint patterns exist in normal families. The present study, therefore, is undertaken to determine the existence, nature, and patterning of complaints in five groups of normal children and their families. These children are matched with the families referred to the M.H.I. according to the following criteria:--age, sex, both biological parents in the home, the presence of siblings, and economic status.  Lire la suite

A Banach algebra is at once a Banach space and an algebra with norm satisfying the multiplicative inequality. Many of the Banach spaces which occur in analysis are at the same time Banach algebras under a definition of multiplication which itself plays a role in analysis. A good example is the Banach space of absolutely integrable functions on the real line with multiplication defined as convolution. Since applications to analysis have always provided the main impetus to the study of Banach spaces, it is rather surprising that there was not a comparable interest shown in Banach algebras.  Lire la suite

During the field season of 1952, the writer was employed on a geological survey party of the Ontario Department of Mines. The area examined is located in the Lumby lake greenstone belt, District of Kenora, Ontario, and the work was under the direction of R. S. Woolverton (1953) who has presented a doctoral dissertation of the geology of the area. During the course of the fieldwork many problems concerning the genesis of the rocks were encountered. Woolverton has dealt with some of them in his dissertation.  Lire la suite

Many investigators have sought evidence on how and where DDT (l, l, l-parachlorodiphenyl trichlorethane) penetrates the insect body and where it effects its lethal action. Disagreement in the results and interpretation of results still leaves much doubt as to where penetration is most easily effected and the writer could find no good evidence in the literature pointing at all conclusively to any site of DDT action. Definite information on these points should be of value in formulating DDT insecticides and designing methods for their use.  Lire la suite

One of the earliest observations relating to the absorption of fat was made by William Hewson (1) in 1770. Although it had previously been suggested that the milky appearance of blood serum was due to “an admixture of chyle with the blood” (1) Hewson’s description of lipemic serum was the first to show that its turbidity was caused by the presence of fat. These remarkable observations apparently went unnoticed for many years, although numerous workers saw and described Hewson’s “globules” in blood.  Lire la suite

Jose Ortega y Gasset stands foremost in contemporary Spanish philosophy, both as regards his stature as a philosopher and as an influence upon his generation in Spain and in Spanish-speaking countries. Born in Madrid on May 9, 1883, son of Ortega y Munillo, the famous Spanish journalist, he received his first studies at the Collage of Jesuits in Miraflores and at the Central University in Madrid. A remarkably able and precocious student, in 1904 he presented his doctoral dissertation, El Milenario ("The Millenium") to the University of Madrid, thereby obtaining his Ph.D. degree.  Lire la suite

Our knowledge of the Euphausiacea of the western area of the North Atlantic dates back to the time of Ortmann (1893) who recorded a number of species from this area. Hansen (1915) has given a great many records of the Euphausiacea from the western Atlantic, mainly in the northwestern part. Colosi (1917) has added a few records from the Caribbean sea, Bigelow (1926) records a number of species from the offshore waters of the Gulf of Maine, of which a few are Euphausid species that also occur in the Florida straits area. A list of the species occurring from Chesapeake …  Lire la suite

Homosexuality (1) is universal -- as universal as man himself. The practice has been recorded in the literature of most societies. Although homosexuality has at times been accorded a place of special respect, occasionally regarded as the prerogative of a particular class, more frequently it has been subjected to societal punishment. This study analyses the pattern of social relationships among homosexuals under conditions of repression characteristic of American urban society. It is the object of his sexual drive that distinguishes t he homosexual from other men.  Lire la suite

Since Caton (1875) recorded electrical potential change from the exposed brain of a rabbit and, later, Berger (1929) demonstrated electrical currents produced by the living brain of man, the study of electrical activity of the cerebral cortex has become increasingly important in the understanding of brain function. However, the analysis of this activity is not an easy task, not only because of the extreme complexity of the structure of the cerebral cortex, but also because of the inadequacy of the methods conventionally used for the recording of the cortical activity.  Lire la suite

The application of protein hydrolysates to high protein therapy has been studied by many workers during the last decade. The results of their work have led to the widespread clinical use of protein hydrolysates for intravenous injection. Both enzymic and acid hydrolysates of casein and lactalbumin have been found satistactory for this purpose. [...]  Lire la suite

"Soil Mechanics" is the name given to the scientific approach to the understanding of soil action. It may be defined as the science dealing with all phenomena which affect the action of soil in a capacity in any way associated with engineering. It is a pioneer science which has grown very rapidly in the last two decades. Although experimental soil mechanics has been going on ever since man first built structures or tunnelled in the ground, it is the scientific approach to the problem which is only recent.  Lire la suite

This paper is an attempt to discuss Chazy reefs and reef builders of the Montreal district, and their relationships to other reefs, and reef builders of the Pre-Cambrian, and Palaeozoic rocks. Before the subject can be discussed, the problem as to what is a reef should be settled. Definitions have varied depending on the approach to the subject, whether from the point of view of a geologist, or zoologist, whether reefs past, or present were being considered, or what the reef was composed of.  Lire la suite

For many years chemists have endeavored to evaluate soils for agricultural purposes and to determine fertilizer needs for maximum crop returns by chemical analysis of soil samples. More recently, attempts have been made to establish "critical levels" of the mineral elements necessary for normal crop growth in various organs of the plants themselves. Both of these procedures have met with some degree of success, but much work remains to be done in standardizing the methods, particularly those of the latter group, against field performance. [...]  Lire la suite

Stearn, C. (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

In 1947 investigations were begun at Macdonald College to obtain information on the mechanism of translocation of elements, particularly iron and aluminium within the profile of podsolized soils. [...]  Lire la suite

A Couette-type streaming birefringence apparatus was designed. Sols of cellulose particles in distilled water were prepared and partially fractionated by centrifuging. Extinction angle measurements, with an estimated experimental error of +/- 1°, were made on these sols. The particle length distribution of one of the sols was determined from electron microscope measurements. An extinction angle vs. velocity gradient curve was calculated, for this distribution, using the Peterlin and Stuart theory for the orientation of rigid ellipsoids in conjunction with the Sadron theory for polydisperse systems. This curve fits the experimentally determined extinction angle data within the limits of experimental error.  Lire la suite

The recorded history of papermaking extends almost 2000 years back to the early Chinese who clubbed vegetable fibres to a pulp which they formed into a mat and dried in the sun. Although methods have vastly improved, the basic principle has not changed - the evaporation of liquid water from a mat of wet cellulose fibres. [...]  Lire la suite

Les premiers contes de Voltaire datent de 1747. Entre cette date et celle de sa mort, il écrivit vingt-six contes et romans. Candide fut publié en 1759, alors que Voltaire, à soixante-quatre ans, avait conquis une réputation universelle et une influence considérable, grâce à ses oeuvres littéraires et à sa prodigieuse correspondance. Candide est une des missives lancées de Ferney, destinée à combattre l'optimisme vague des disciples de Leibnitz et à ridiculiser Rousseau et sa thèse que l'homme est foncièrement bon et la civilisation mauvaise. [...]  Lire la suite

Galileo was first a student of medicine and philosophy at the University of Pisa. After two years of study, at the age of nineteen, he met a certain Ostillio Ricci, professer or mathematics. From that time onwards, "leaving everything else aside, he abandoned himself to the study of mathematics". [...]  Lire la suite

It has long been a maxim of British statecraft, to some at least of its exponents, that British foreign policy is under the control of public opinion; that Great Britain is unable to make war except with public approval; and that she can, therefore, participate only in a war which starts in a certain kind of way, with a casus belli which appeals to the sentiments of the British people. This maxim found its classic exposition in the memorandum penned by Lord Salisbury on May 29, 1901, in support of his contention that the country should remain free of the …  Lire la suite

The serum proteins of the fowl have been fractionated by filter paper electrophoresis. Sera from sexually immature pullets yielded an albumin and five major globulin fractions. Highly lipemic sera of laying hens or estrogenized pullets fractionated by use of a methanolic veronal buffer yielded the foregoing six major fractions together with a double phosphoprotein-phospholipid fraction.  Lire la suite

There has recently been an increase of theoretical interest in the effects of early experience on behavior, together with an increasing number of experimental studies. In one area, however, there is a marked discrepancy between theoretical emphasis and amount of empirical investigation: the area of avoidance behavior, and pain. [...]  Lire la suite

The protection of public health is today generally recognized as one of the most important functions of government. Few others are more vital to the welfare of the whole population. The sanitation of the physical environment, the control of communicable infections, the education of the individual in personal hygiene and the organization of medical and nursing services for the early diagnosis and preventive treatment of certain diseases - all these health functions and many more are the concern of the various levels of government in Canada. [...] The purpose of this thesis is to examine and compare the pattern of …  Lire la suite

The entire rodent collection sent to the Institute of Parasitology from Egypt by Dr. R. E. Kuntz and Mr. G. M. Malakatis was made up of Cestodes, Trematodes and Nematodes from ten genera of rodents. This thesis deals with two of these genera of rodents and has for its subject matter the nematode parasites of the house mouse (Mus musculus) and the house rat (Rattus rattus) in Egypt. [...] The study of parasites found in the house mouse and the house rat has more than a purely scientific significance, for the direct association of these rodents with man, his dwellings, …  Lire la suite

Studies of reaction mechanisms involving free atoms began with the classical investigations on the photochemical synthesis of hydrogen chloride, when it was realized that the large quantum yields of this and similar reactions must be the result of some sort of chain mechanism. This concept was extended to reactions of organic compounds by Taylor (l), who suggested that a chain reaction of hydrogen atoms and ethyl radicals could explain quantum yields greater than unity for the mercury photosensitized hydrogenation of ethylene. [...] The abundance of experimental data in many cases admits varied interpretations but the presence of both atoms and …  Lire la suite

The purpose of the field investigations, of which this thesis is the outcome, was twofold: firstly, to study the present glacier cover of the Kingaite Peninsula, and secondly, to attempt to elucidate the course of glaciation and deglaciation during the Pleistocene Epoch as a whole and during the Wisconsin Age in particular.  Lire la suite

The development of electrophysiological methods during the last twenty years has resulted in a great change in our conception of the central nervous system. The older picture, based on the anatomical findings of Cajal and on the Sherrington reflex, was that signals from the receptors made their way to the cortex via the well-defined sensory pathways, were then sorted out as by an immense switchboard, and if they had a clear route continued through to the motor system. The problem of learning was to discover the laws whereby the connections of the hypothetical switchboard became changed.  Lire la suite

The development of electrophysiological methods during the last twenty years has resulted in a great change in our conception of the central nervous system. The older picture, based on the anatomical findings of Cajal and on the Sherrington reflex, was that signals from the receptors made their way to the cortex via the well-defined sensory pathways, were then sorted out as by an immense switchboard, and if they had a clear route continued through to the motor system. The problem of learning was to discover the laws whereby the connections of the hypothetical switchboard became changed.  Lire la suite

The problem is to make a separate study of the fishing and farming occupations in order to find out the main weaknesses of each one. At the same time, the most importnat measures for the improvement of each occupation are pointed out, and finally, an analysis is made of the effects which these improvements and consequent specialization have on the economic and social structure of the combination of occupations.  Lire la suite

A rubber may be defined as any substance possessing the property of elastic retraction after extension. The fact that a substance may be stretched is not in itself enough to classify it as a rubber; a rapid return to the original state upon release of stress is a far more characteristic phenomenon. Although recent investigations into the origin of elasticity have largely emphasized the physical properties, rather than the chemical composition, of long chain molecules, some insight into the common factors that contribute to elasticity can be gained from consideration of the chemical constitution of a few of the important …  Lire la suite

There have been relatively few reports concerning the effect of growth-regulating substances on the growth of fungi as compared to the mass of literature regarding their effect on the growth and development of higher plants.  Lire la suite

Although the special study of the present work is an experimental investigation or the mineralogy, mode and conditions of formation of the hydrous nickel-magnesium silicates, often collectively referred to as garnierite, that characterize all nickel silicate deposits, it is felt that a brief description of the broader features and field relationships of the better-known nickel silicate deposits of the world would be an appropriate introduction to this subject.  Lire la suite

In selecting Sayyid Jamal al-Din al-Afghani as the subject of our thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master's Degree in the newly created Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, we are guided by two reasons.  Lire la suite

A number of experimental travelling wave tubes have been built for operation in the 3.2 centimeter wavelength region, and a series of noise measurements on these tubes has been carried out. The sinusoidal dependence of noise figure on the separation between the electron gun and the circuit entrance of the travelling wave tube has been investigated thoroughly, and various characteristics of these curves, not apparent from previous researches at lower frequencies, have been found and discussed. A new theory, differing considerably from previous noise theories, has been suggested, and comparisons between it and the experimental results obtained in the research …  Lire la suite

The alteration studies discussed in this thesis, were made around sulphide deposits located in the Eastern Townships of the Province of Quebec. The Eastern Townships occupy the hilly part of the province southeast of the St. Lawrence River. Broadly speaking, they extend from the Chaudiere River on the northwest, to the International Boundary on the south. On the northwest, their limit is the Champlain-St-Lawrence fault, or 'Logan's Line'. The area is wholly within the disturbed belt of the Appalachian mountain system.  Lire la suite

The development of the knowledge of the thalamus has proceeded along many avenues of research. The early workers ranged far and wide, comparing, dividing, and subdividing the thalamus and in general terms catalogued anatomical data. Later the relationship of the thalamus and other areas of the nervous system was discovered and with this began the studies of the thalamocortical and corticothalamic connections. [...]  Lire la suite

This thesis represents an attempt to utilize theories of economic change in the interpretation of the history of an innovating firm. As such, it draws heavily on Schumpeter's Theory of Economic Development and the refinements made by Professor Keirstead in his Theory of Economic Change. For reasons both of scientific inappropriateness and the lack of information which might permit doing so, very little use could be made of Neo-classical marginal analysis and value theory.  Lire la suite

More than two centuries have elapsed since the first isolation of cholesterol, yet its structure was elucidated only twenty-two years ago and its total synthesis was achieved in 1951. The first steroid hormone to be isolated in pure state was estrone in 1929. Within a short period of time the various sex hormones, estrogens, androgens and progestins were isolated, characterized and synthesized. The compounds elaborated by the adrenal cortex were the last type of steroid hormones to be investigated. Experiments initiated in 1935 led to the isolation and characterization of twenty-eight crystalline steroids, six of which exhibit activity in prolonging …  Lire la suite