McGill University Thèses et mémoires publiés en 1960

This study is an inquiry into the impact of a mentally retarded child upon the family unit. The research group interviewed forty-four families with a mentally retarded child, known to the Mental Assessment and Guidance Clinic of the Montreal Children's Hospital. The areas of investigation include the roles of mothers, fathers and siblings of a mentally retarded child, the stresses experienced in fulfilling these roles, and the adaptations made to the existing stresses. [...]  Lire la suite

The vast amount of literature accumulated during the past few decades has led to the establishment of the fundamental and central role of phosphorus in living systems. Its presence as a constituent of biologically important compounds and in cellular structure has been known for a long time. [...]  Lire la suite

The purpose of this project was the design and construction of an arc-type plasma generator, capable of producing relatively dense, hot plasma. In contrast to the single-arc machines of Siegbahn etc. (Ref.1, 6) two arcs placed end-to-end are used in order to double the energy available for collision between test particles.  Lire la suite

This thesis is a study of provincial politics in the Province of Quebec during a period of relative prosperity, economic growth and expansion. The period is that of the 1920's and covers the results of three provincial general elections, those of 1919, 1923 and 1927. It, therefore, is not intended to deal with the impact of the depression on the province's political system, nor the rise of the Union Nationale Party to power in 1936.  Lire la suite

In the psychological literature dealing with second-language learning, both intellectual and attitudinal-motivational variables have repeatedly shown up as important prerequisites of second-language achievement. In the following paragraphs both of these groups of variables will be evaluated and their roles in the process of acquiring a new language examined.  Lire la suite

The recent history of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts in the House of Commons of Canada is examined against the background of Canadian and British practice and procedure. The procedure and organisation of the Committee of Public Accounts in the United Kingdom is described in detail. The Chairman of that Committee is a member of the opposition. The Committee is small. It meets in camera. Through the Permanent Secretaries as Accounting Officers the Committee exercises a continuous control over the executive.  Lire la suite

During the past three decades the concept of a chemical bond has emerged from a vague, rather indefinite term into an entity with a precise and well-defined meaning. The physical properties of chemical bonds, their length and strength, have been the subject of much experimental and theoretical research. Bond length is a quantity which can be measured unambiguously with rather high precision. [...]  Lire la suite

The separation of ions by migration in filter paper under the influence of an electric field is basically a simple technique, but one that is extremely versatile. It is particularly adapted to small amounts of material, and in the field of radiochemistry it appears well suited for dealing with "carrier-free" materials. [...]  Lire la suite

In the past, studies on factors affecting the experimental production of gastric adenocarcinoma have been hampered by the lack of a method which would produce adenocarcinomas of the stomach in a significant number of animals. Until 18 years ago there were no successful authentic cases of experimentally induced gastric adenocarcinoma. During the past 30 years many studies have been carried out, but the results of the best series have been at most disappointing.  Lire la suite

The fundamental skeletal substance of the cell walls of terrestrial plants is cellulose, a linear macromolecule built up of (1-4)-linked X-D-glucopyranose residues. In its native state cellulose may have a weight-average degree of polymerization in the neighborhood of 10,000. In wood, the cellulose bundles are imbedded in an amorphous mass of lignin and a polysaccharide material known as hemicellulose. Lignin is a three-dimensional polymer of phenyl propane units. [...]  Lire la suite

Aucubin, a compound isolated from the leaves of Aucuba japonica and other plants, has been assigned the structure by Karrer and Schmid. It is of interest as the first x-furanol derivative reported as a natural product. [...]  Lire la suite

Statistics relating to British Guiana (especially population data) are not highly developed; the majority of those which have been garnered, while they cannot give a detailed exposition of the economy can, however, illustrate generally the trend of postwar economic development.  Lire la suite

This study of the McGill Medical Library covers the period from its beginning as a small collection in the Montreal Medical Institution to the coming of the Osler Library to McGill University just over a century later. It was through the Medical Faculty that McGill College became established, and, as an important and continuous part of that Faculty, the Library, though not unique, certainly deserves historical treatment.  Lire la suite

Proteins are indispensable in living matter. If compared with all other known substances of living organisms, the proteins occupy the largest space and mass, have the widest distribution and most complicated structure, and show the greatest variability in function. They are the main constituants of every cell. The cell sap and more solid structures, as the cell, nuclear and mitochondrial membranes, are mainly ccmposed of proteins and, to a large extent, they impose their physico-chemical properties on these structures. [...]  Lire la suite

The production of hypertension by renal ischemia in animals, and the recognition of renal disease in association with clinical hypertension, have firmly established the role of the kidney in the etiology of hypertension. Its mechanism of action, however, is poorly understood. [...]  Lire la suite

In the first stage of the present investigation, the 2-amino-4-(x-pyridyl)-thiazole and 2-amino-4-(y-quinolyl)- thiazoles were synthesized. Various methods were investigated. The best method, giving the highest yields and the purest product, was found to be that in which the appropriate acetylpyridine and acetylquinoline hydrobromides were condensed with thiourea in polar solvents.  Lire la suite

Without reference to any model of a solid, it has been inferred from experimental work done by Bolshov (8) that the work function approaches a value independent of crystallographic orientation near the melting point. A brief review of Armstrong's (3) calculations of the temperature coefficient of the work function of copper at room temperature has been presented. These calculations assume that the work function does not differ appreciably from the work function at absolute zero. [...]  Lire la suite

It was appreciated at the beginning of this project that any real advancement in the technique of blood preservation would likely come from an understanding of the energy metabolism of the red blood cell (erythrocyte or normocyte). Until about twenty-five years ago this cell was regarded as being little more than a parcel of hemoglobin. Lacking a nucleus and other common cell components, it was regarded as merely a transporter of oxygen and carbon dioxide. [...]  Lire la suite

The present task is to construct a language, using the techniques of modern symbolic logic, from which all modern mathematics may be systematically developed. The reader is asked to look upon the work as the first of a series of works each developing a different subject of mathematical thought. In such a series the first step would be to present the tools and techniques used in the development. The tool is logic; a system of logic much expanded from that initiated by Aristotle and sufficiently powerful to handle most of his syllogisms. [...]  Lire la suite

The genus Anoplonyx Marlatt belongs to the more generalized of the Nematinae and is clearly defined taxonomically (Ross, 1937). This genus is comprised of very few known species, four in North America and four in Europe; all are associated with Larix. The species are closely similar and difficult to distinguish, especially in the adult stage.  Lire la suite

Une oeuvre d'aspect fragmenté bénéficie rarement de la réflexion soutenue qu'on n'hésite pas à accorder à des oeuvres plus systématiques. Ainsi l'effort nécessaire pour retrouver, par-delà le chaos de pensées en apparence disjointes, la signification qui s'en dégage empêchera-t-il sans doute toujours qu'on prête aux écrits de Simone Weil l'attention qu'ils méritent.  Lire la suite

The Grenville Front is the line or zone markingthe boundary between the Grenville province and the Superiorprovince. It extends as a remarkable northeasterly linearzone with few diversions from the main trend, from GeorgianBay, Ontario to Otish Mountains, Quebec. Of 665 miles mapped,400 miles show evidence of faulting and 265 miles ofmetamorphic gradation. Geological information of areasalong the Grenville Front is reviewed, and pertinent Frontdetails are expressed. [...]  Lire la suite

An explanation of the system of textual references employed in this paper may perhaps be of convenience to the reader. As a rule, references to other works have here been incorporated in the main body of the text, with the aid of abbreviations usually derived from the initial letters of the main words in their titles. Thus "HLL, p. 21." refers to page twenty-one of Thomas Hobbes: Leben and Lehre, by F. Tonnies. (A table of such abbreviations will be found immediately preceding the Introduction.)  Lire la suite

Evidence is presented which confirms that glucose is a major factor in estrogen loss during hot acid hydrolysis of undiluted human diabetic pregnancy urine. This difficulty can be overcome, for estriol, estrone and estradiol-17x, by diluting the urine with water prior to acid hydrolysis, or by enzyme hydrolysis. [...]  Lire la suite

Species of the genus Lotus (Leguminosae) are principally located in two geographic areas: the Pacific coast of North America and the Mediterranean region. In addition, endemic species are found in such widely scattered places as South Africa, Australia and Japan. [...]  Lire la suite

The problem of the interaction between two nucleons has for many years been one of the outstanding tasks of elementary particle physics. In order to investigate this interaction in the non-relativistic domain by means of a Schroedinger equation it is necessary to know the form of the operator representing the potential energy of the interacting nucleons as a function of their positions, their momenta, and their spin and isotopic spin states. [...]  Lire la suite

Madame Bovary des sa première apparition en 1857 fit grande impression. Tout en restant dans la tradition littéraire française, il apporta - chose tout à fait nouvelle - un réalisme débordant. Son sujet lui valut aussitôt un succes de scandale, mais par la suite c'est son style si soigneusement travaillé qui l'établit comme le chef d'oeuvre de l'art réaliste. Steegmuller a dit que son illusion extraordinaire de la vie, fruit de la familiarité de Flaubert avec l'ambiance et de son choix méticuleux des détails à inclure et présenter n'a jamais été égalée dans aucun autre roman.  Lire la suite

The occurence of polyploidy in the mammalian hepatic parenchyma had been frequently reported and this phenomenon has been studied mainly in the rat and mouse. The liver contains diploid cells at birth, and in the course of post-natal development, polyploid cells accumulate with increasing frequency until diploid cells are in the minority. [...]  Lire la suite

It was one of those afternoons - strangely, mistily, personal, - when the air, thick with grey, sooty mist, seems weeping at the sorrows of the earth. All the buildings lean and sigh about the city streets, and mournfulness, like a genie, roams forlornly. No one should be alone on such an afternoon. They were not alone, those two women, over near the confectionery counter, huddled at their cozy table in the cheerful little tea-shop, taking, delicately, morsels of toast and tea. [...]  Lire la suite

Islam, the fourth religion of China, has played an important role in the history of China as well as in the history of the rest of the Islamic World.  Lire la suite

The acid-catalysed hydrolysis of amides has for a long time been assumed to involve a protonation of the amide in a fast preequilibrium step, followed by the rate-determing attack of a molecule of water on this protonated intermediate (1,2,3). Recently it has been shown that by taking account of the basic strength of the amide, many features of its hydrolysis might be explained; in particular, the fact that the rate of hydrolysis increases to a maximum and then decreases with increase in concentration of acid (4). [...]  Lire la suite

The supplementary protein value of several combinations of a refined law fiber corn gluten meal and a refined soybean oilmeal in supporting growth of weanling rats was determined using semi-synthetic diets. None of the combinations gave a significant supplementary protein effect. It was noted, however, that replacement of 40 percent soybean oilmeal protein with corn gluten meal protein resulted in a product equal in protein efficiency to soybean oilmeal itself. In an attempt to utilize the milling excess of corn bran, a high fiber low protein corn bran feed was produced on an experimental basis. ln digestibility trials with sheep …  Lire la suite

This study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that "the attitude of the family toward the retarded child affects his adjustment to his environment". The impact of parental attitudes on the adjustment of 21 mentally retarded children was assessed. The subjects in the sample ranged in chronological age from 7 to 17 years end their Intelligence Quotients ranged from 30 to 80. All these subjects were registered at the M. H. I. between the years 1956 and 1957. Research information was obtained through interviews with subjects’ parents and M. H. I. records. Five of the 21 subjects were accepted by …  Lire la suite

The recent paper by Pritchard, Heron, and Hebb (1960) has provided a review of the current studies of perception using the method of stabilized retinal images. It also gives a mass of seemingly inexplicable information regarding the visibility of the stabilized retinal image. When a simple line drawing is viewed in the stabilized condition, a remarkable sequence of events takes place. The visual object vanishes, then after a short period reappears intermittently, as a whole or less often in parts. When a complex figure is viewed stabilized, the tendency to break up increases, its parts disappearing independently.  Lire la suite

17-KS are excreted in the urine as conjugates which must be hydrolyzed prior to chemical estimation of the steroid moiety. The classical method of hydrolysis has been to heat the urine in the presence of strong acid. This treatment splits the conjugates quantitatively, but causes a certain amount of destruction or alteration of the steroids which may lead to mistaken interpretation of the results. While this method may be of some use in the routine clinical determination of total 17-KS, estimation of the individual compounds demands hydrolytic procedures that cause as little artifact formation as possible.  Lire la suite

Investigation of the structure and the behavior of the arctic atmosphere to any great extent has only recently become possible. Meteorological research has been hampered by the lack of upper air data resulting from a thin network of arctic radiosonde stations. However, since 1945 there has been an increasing interest in the Arctic, and a subsequent expansion of the radiosonde station network. This fact, together with the International Geophysical Year program, has stimulated much more research.  Lire la suite

That the energy requirements for muscular exercise in the human organism are derived largely from the oxidative metabolism of carbohydrate in the working muscles has been known for many years (43). The chain of biochemical reactions within the muscle fibre which result in fibre contraction are known in intimate detail as are the neuro-humoral mechanisms controlling and coordinating fibre contraction in the individual fibre groups and muscle bundles . Concerning the physiological mechanisms controlling the participation of the respiratory apparatus, the heart and the blood vessels in increasing the supply of oxygen to the working muscles, there is little knowledge …  Lire la suite

Two six-week fluorine feeding trials were conducted with young growing guinea pigs as test animals. Basal diets were prepared that contained 75% hay since the ultimate aim of the experiment was to establish a bioassay for fluorine in forage crops. Sodium fluoride was added to the basal diets of some groups to achieve levels of fluorine ranging from 19 to 130 p.p.m. To other groups, fluorine-containing hay grown in the vicinity of a large industrial operation was fed, resulting in dictary fluorine levels of the hay-meal ration ranging from 60 to 112 p.p.m. Fluorine in the diet depressed the feed …  Lire la suite

This thesis examines certain psychological factors in the background of the unmarried mother and reality factors in her current life situation to determine how these factors influence the plan she makes for her out-of-wedlock child. The study is based on the examination of 20 unmarried mothers, who were known to the social service department of a large obstetrical hospital in Montreal in 1956-67. The data were obtained by the writer, with the use of a schedule during personal interviews with the unmarried mother. In this study it was shown that neither social nor psychological factors in themselves determined the plan …  Lire la suite

The existence of a link between adrenal cortex and hypertensive vascular disease is now well substantiated by experimental and clinical evidence some of which is outlined below in the historical review. Extensive investigations have been undertaken during the past decade to provide more specific information regarding the role of naturally occurring corticosteroids in the pathogenesis of hypertension. The observation that a significant increase of mean urinary aldosterone excretion occurs in groups of patients with essential hypertension, and the discovery of functional aldosterone-producing cortical adenomas associated with a progressive form of hypertension in many stimulated a renewed interest in aldosterone as …  Lire la suite

Following a method designed by Burgen and Stewart for measuring the fluid turnover in the pleural cavity (J. Lab. & Clin. Med. 52: 118(1958).), analogous studies were carried out on the dog made ascetic by constriction of the inferior vena cava above the diaphragm. Radioiodinated albumin was injected intraperitoneally and the lymphatic absorption of fluid was calculated from the appearance of the label in the circulation, the non-lymphatic flow (usually formation) from its dilution in the effusion. The resting turnover of the unanaesthetized dog was studied. The non-lymphatic flow was found to be consistently larger than the lymphatic absorption in …  Lire la suite

The basic investigations which led to the discovery of the nucleic acids were made by Friedrich Miescher (1), who as a student of Hoppe-Seyler in 1868, became interested in the problem of isolating nuclear components. He was able to prepare nuclei from pus cells obtained from discarded surgical bandages. From this nuclear material he was able to prepare an unusual phosphorous containing compound which he named "nuclein". At that time, the only known natural source of organic phosphorous was lecithin, and so this discovery alone was sufficient to attract attention to the compound.  Lire la suite

This work gives the results of the study of the geology of the Eastman-Orford Lake area in the Eastern Townships or Quebec. This area has previously been mapped on a large scale by a number of well-known geologists under the auspices of the Geological Survey and the Quebec Department of Mines. In 1956 and 1957, the writer was directed by the Quebec Mineral Deposits Branch to undertake a detailed study of the structural relations and stratigraphy of the above area with the view to investigate possible exploitable mineral deposits. Two preliminary reports, summarizing these field studies, have been published by …  Lire la suite

One of the central problems in nuclear physics is the determination of the forces which bind nuclei together. A few facts were obtained in the beginning from the vast collection of data on the binding energies of nuclei. In order to account for saturation, Heisenberg (1) and Majorana (2) introduced the idea of exchange forces, somewhat akin to the exchange forces which occur in molecular binding. These forces give rise to spin and parity dependence in the interaction. From the large ratio of the binding energy of the alpha particle to that of the deuteron, Wigner (3) deduced that the …  Lire la suite

Bird, J. (Supervisor)  Lire la suite

The purpose of this project is to prove theoretically and to demonstrate on a laboratory model that a dual-mode relay servo can be designed which does not have the complexity of the standard type using an ordinary linear amplifier in its linear mode. This is achieved by operating the relays in this region under the control of a linearizing carrier signal. The experimental investigation is carried out on a model using ordinary servo components such as a two-phase motor, an induction tachogenerator, and associated components which are common to instrument servos.. This has the advantage of showing the effect of …  Lire la suite

The main object of this work is to build up as detailed and accurate a picture as possible of the normal behaviour of eider ducklings (Somateria mollissima) under natural conditions. Such a description has been called an ‘ethogram’ (1), and utilises the methods and teaching of contemporary ethologists such as Tinbergen(2), Thorpe (3), and Lorenz (4). Secondly, in pursuit of the primary aim, it is hoped to show the validity of what may be called 'the naturalistic approach'.  Lire la suite

Thomas Hardy's Wessex novels contain a remarkable amount of Dorsetshire legend and tradition. This material includes countrymen's proverbs, folk-magic, seasonal festivals, and rites descended from primitive religions. Some of the legends are connected with Angle-Saxon and Roman relics -- barrows, roads, burial grounds, fortifications ethers with old country families. Witchcraft and many sorts of superstition become important themes in several of the novels.  Lire la suite

Stress-corrosion cracking is currently defined as the cracking resulting from the combined effect of corrosion and stress (1). Cracks so produced are of a brittle nature and may be intercrystalline or transcrystalline depending upon the alloy and corrosive atmosphere involved. Frequently the amount of corrosion associated with the cracking is extremely small. The types of alloys that may be made to stress corrosion crack are numerous. In fact it seems probable that every alloy will so fail given the correct conditions. It is fortunate that the corrosive atmospheres that cause such cracking are relatively few.  Lire la suite