specimens, consisting of birds, insects, fish, skulls and geological and ethnological specimens. The Report of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for 1926 contains numerous accounts of heroic explorations throughout Northern Canada. Sergeant J. E. F. Wight and Constable T. H. Tredgold explored 1,286 miles of Southern Baffin Island in the midst of Winter and suffered the severest hardships as the following quotations from the Report indicate: As our dogs had been four days without anything to eat, we got everything that was eatable and cut it up, the feed consisting of three pairs of sealskin pants, three pairs of sealskin boots, also some sealskin line, butter, bacon, and biscuits. At this time all hands were suffering from sunburn and wind, our faces being one mass of open sores. During this long journey they discovered that a large lake, Tesseyuakjiak, shown on all maps, did not exist. Staff-Sergeant Joy made a remarkable patrol of almost one thousand miles during April and May from Craig Harbour in Ellesmere Island to Axel Heiberg. This trip, made through a region that was little known, added much to geographical knowledge. Inspector Wilcox of Ponds Inlet in North Baffin Island in his report for 1926 described his work as doctor: I found about twenty igloos at this camp, and of their inhabitants fifteen were ill with pneumonia. The conditions were pitiful in the extreme. The weather was getting warm, with the result that during the day the interior surface of the igloo was a mass of icicles. The floors were covered with about six inches of slush. I found three of the women were running temperatures of 105° and 106°, and their bodies were covered with sores. . . . I immediately made hot tea and gave all a ration of tea and biscuits, and treated those that were sick with Dover powders, poulticed their chests, and gave them a laxative. . . . It was to my mind quite illuminating what effect a cup of tea, a little laxative, coupled with a lot of faith would have on the natives. . . . In a few days they were practically well. The straits to which the people of Northern Canada were driven, through lack of doctors is well illustrated by a Mounted Police report for 1926 from Northern Alberta: One instance of a crude piece of surgery was related to me recently. In this case two trappers successfully amputated the leg of an injured comrade. All the instruments they had were hunting knives, a heated gun barrel, a small handsaw, with some moose sinews for sutures, two old sheets for bandages, and just enough rum to render their patient semi-conscious. The operation, with all these drawbacks, saved a man's life. The annual Canadian Arctic expedition in charge of George P. Mackenzie, sailed from North Sydney on July 15, 1926. It carried supplies for the five stations of the Royal Mounted Police situated in the Arctic Islands facing Greenland. During the expedition it established a new station at Bache Peninsula, the most northerly yet located. The large steamer Boethic, used for the first time in the expedition, was almost crushed in the ice. All the stations, however, were successfully visited, and the steamer returned to North Sydney on August 29, 1926. Other Exploration Incidents. No less than sixteen members of the Canadian Arctic Expedition under Vilhjalmur Stefansson during 1913-16 perished in the cause of science and exploration. In April, 1926, a tablet to their memory was erected in the Archives Building, Ottawa. On it was inscribed their names, and below the list the inscription "For Canada and Science." The names on the list are as follows: George Stewart Malloch, geologist; Henri Beuchat, anthropologist; Bjarne Mamen, topographer; James Murray, oceanographer; Alister Forbes Mackay, surgeon; Peter Barnand, ship captain; Alexander Anderson, first mate; Charles Thompson, Andrew Norem, Daniel Wallace Blue, John Jones, Stanley Morris, George Breddy, Charles Barker, John Brady, Edmund Golightly, seamen. It was announced in 1927 that during the numerous expeditions of 1925 and 1926 into the Arctic Regions a number of relics had been obtained, which were thought to belong to the ill-fated Franklin expedition-four pieces of blue serge, two pieces of leather, two wooden bowls, a circular metal plate, a small piece of oak, a knife with stone blade and walnut handle, and a piece of hoop iron, one edge partly notched to form a saw. These were sent to the British Admiralty in London for examination. The Admiralty by comparing the articles with the materials issued to the expedition did not doubt but that the cloth, leather and iron hoop were relics of the Franklin party, but were uncertain of the others. A human skull picked up by a trader on Adelaide Peninsula was identified by the Department of Health and the Geological Survey, Ottawa, as that of a white man of about thirty years of age. It was thought to be the skull of a member of the same expedition. Cardaissin; The Medical The only notable medical discovery announced during 1926 was described by Dr. George Henry Cameron at a medical meeting at Saskatoon. He there explained the action of cardaissin. This substance, like adrenalin, is extracted from the supra-renal bodies, which lie on the surfaces of the kidneys in the vertebrate animals. Cardaissin, like adrenalin, is a heart stimulant, but while the action of the latter continues for only a few minutes, that of the former, it is claimed, continues for hours, and renewed hypodermic injections continue the stimulation for almost an indefinite time. Much additional investigation of this discovery was expected to be necessary before substantiating these claims. Glover Cancer Cure; The New Radium Institute. The Glover cancer treatment, described in The Canadian Review for 1925-26, continued to gain favour with the medical profession, and The Canadian Lancet and Practitioner for November, 1926, closes an editorial as follows: The test of time with confirmation of the laboratory work of Loudon, McCormack, Howard and Scott, and the clinical work by such men as Donnelly, Warmuth, Kurtz, Amey, Glancey, Kerr, and White has apparently established the work of Glover on a sound basis, so that we may look forward hopefully to the day of deliverance from one of the greatest scourges in the history of mankind. Dr. Glover in the same journal summarizes the results of treatment with his anti-toxin as follows: 1. Early cases when the disease is local will yield to the anti-toxin in a large percentage of the cases. 2. In the more advanced cases when the main growth is surgically removed the metastases will usually disappear with the anti-toxin treatment. 3. In cases where the disease is widely disseminated, little is to be expected from any form of treatment, although it is found that many of the distressing symptoms are often alleviated by use of the anti-toxin. This is especially shown by the relief of pain, secession of offensive discharges, and the clearing of mental confusion and lethargy. 4. Best results are obtained with cases treated in institutions where they may be kept under constant observation and given the necessary attention. 5. The future treatment may consist of prophylactic inoculations of a standardized toxin for all those who show cancer susceptibility, as may be determined by the intradermal injection of a definite amount of the toxin in appropriate dilution. On Nov. 4, 1926, a Radium Institute for the treatment of cancer was opened in Montreal by Mgr. A. V. J. Piette, Rector of the University of Montreal. Situated in the old Maisonneuve City Hall, with Dr. J. Ernest Gendreau, cancer specialist, as Director in charge, and with full equipment of expensive and complicated apparatus for the treatment of cancer, the institution provided accommodation for thirty patients. An unlimited number of outdoor patients could be treated. In May, 1927, Dr. L. E. Harriman of Toronto announced before a meeting of the Canadian and Ontario Dental Associations the discovery of a treatment for pyorrhea, with which he claimed to have had phenomenal results. The re-agent is a salve, which is placed between the gums and the teeth. The treatment was carried on in the Western Hospital, Toronto, and several patients were apparently cured in a few days. The Balfour Lecture, and Other Incidents. One of the outstanding events in medical science of the year was the visit to Toronto of Dr. W. J. Mayo, head of the famous Mayo Clinic of Rochester, Minn. Dr. Donald Balfour, a son-in-law of Dr. Mayo and a Canadian, donated to the Medical Faculty of the University of Toronto a fund through which a distinguished lecturer was to be brought to the University every year to deliver a lecture before the medical men and students of medicine. Dr. Mayo delivered the first of these lectures before a distinguished audience on Apr. 5, 1927, the birthday of Lord Lister. His subject was "The Relation of the Basic Sciences to Surgery." The Rockefeller Foundation was a generous benefactor to medical education in Canada during 1926. Beside financing fellowships for twenty-three Canadians, the following contributions were given: The School of Hygiene and Public Health, University of Toronto (building and endowment). The Canadian National Commission for Mental Hygiene (application of mental The University of Montreal, Faculty of Medicine (the development of laboratories) TOTAL... $ 162,500 15,000 25,000 10,281 $212,781 In Toronto on Jan. 30, 1927, Hubert Pocock, Osteopath, was prosecuted by the College of Physicians and Surgeons for using the title of "Doctor," and later W. L. Ellison, Chiropractor, was prosecuted for the same offence. Magistrate Jones, who tried both cases, decided that they had the right to use the title. The College of Physicians and Surgeons entered an appeal against the decision. The appeal was heard in April, 1927, and Judge Middleton reversed the decision and laid down the rule that such "irregular" practitioners could not use the title of "Doctor." Industrial "Helium" and Other Developments Though the gas, "Helium," was only discovered in 1895, its economic value was carefully investigated in 1926. Its use for inflating airships, and for mixing with oxygen to make an artificial air for use as a breathing mixture in deep diving and caisson operations could not be overestimated. These uses depend largely on its lightness and its non-inflammability. Investigations by the Department of Mines showed Canada to be the only part of the British Empire possessing large quantities. Dr. L. T. Elworthy in his exhaustive Report on "Helium in Canada" published in 1926 shows that from the natural gas of Alberta and Ontario over five million cubic feet can be recovered annually. While the Alberta wells can supply three-fifths of this amount, the gas from the wells at Inglewood, Ont., contains the largest per cent. of helium. Dean C. J. MacKenzie and Dr. T. Thorvaldson of the University of Saskatchewan in 1927 reached valuable results on their investigation of the cause of decay in cement, and in recognition of this work the Engineering Institute of Canada awarded them the Plummer gold medal. As this building material is so widely used much work had already been done to find the cause of its rapid decay and crumbling away in some cases. The two investigators first determined suitable methods of testing the strength of the material. This was done by making small sticks and testing the effect of heating, frost, and chemicals on their strength. It was found that the decay was caused by the presence of magnesium sulphate and sodium sulphate in the soil waters, which gained access to the cement. As in the alkali regions of the Prairies these salts are commonly found in surface waters, the professors continued in 1927 their investigations for methods of preventing this decay. At the Dominion Rust Research Laboratory at Winnipeg during 1926, an intensive survey was made to determine the number and identity of the various forms of rust that were likely to attack wheat and oats. Some varieties of wheat resist certain rusts, other varieties resist other rusts. By crossing it was hoped to combine the resisting qualities of several varieties of wheat in a single one. Nearly eight thousand hybrids were produced for this purpose, and they were tested to measure their resistance. As it would take years to obtain these crosses, if only the short period of growth during the Summer were used, the experiments were conducted in greenhouses where the conditions of summer growth were maintained for twelve months in the year. National Research Council. The only change in the membership of the National Research Council during 1926 was the addition of J. M. McCarthy, B.Sc., C.E., Vice-President of Price Brothers and Company, Quebec. At the close of the year 1925-26 there were fifteen associate committees in active operation, under the auspices of the Council; forty-two specific investigations, each directed by a competent Canadian scientist, were being conducted in Canadian laboratories from Halifax to Vancouver. In addition, forty-five university graduates of distinction were undergoing further post-graduate training in scientific research in the laboratories of the different universities of Canada, having won Research Council scholarships. Of the investigations in progress nine were in physics, eight in chemistry, six in botany, five in mining engineering, four in biochemistry, two in each of biology, zoology, field husbandry, and electrical engineering, and one in each of fourteen other departments. During the year 1926, forty-five awards were made as follows: University of British Columbia, 8, Alberta 2, Saskatchewan 5, Manitoba 3, Toronto 7, McMaster 2, Western Ontario 2, Queens 3, McGill 7, Montreal 2, Laval 1, Bishops' College 1, and Dalhousie 1. The Report of the Council stated that since its inception, 121 students receiving awards had completed their training, and most of these were teaching in schools and colleges or engaged in industrial research; only seventeen had accepted positions in foreign countries. In January, 1926, the Council met the cerealists of the Prairie Provinces for the purpose of discussing all phases of investigation of the grain industry. A long list of investigation on every phase of wheat-growing, testing, mixing, diseases, composition, and baking, in order that the Universities and other research bodies might know what problems were of most vital economic importance in preparing graduate courses of study. Several committees of the Research Council carried on important investigations. One endeavoured to revive the magnesite mining industry in Quebec, which became active during the War, when Austrian supplies were cut off, but which since was driven out by the cheaper Austrian product. The Committee on cereal grain rust reported that the departments of botany in the three Prairie Provinces were patiently rearing hybrid grains which, besides being rust-resisting, would give a valuable commercial product. Dozens of hybrids capable of resisting rusts had already been produced, but much more experimental work was required before rust could be conquered. The total revenue of the National Research Council for 1926 was $138,573.74. The following expenditures were made: Fellowships, $5,100; Studentships, $16,554; Bursaries, $16,928; British Empire Exhibition Scholarships, $1,500; grants in aid of researches, $61,931; Library, $1,539. |