September 26, 1996

A league of our own

McGill's Softball League wrapped up its season on September 12 with an exciting final between Team Cheers and the Chaotic Swingers. The 10-team league is all but self-financing and might be an example to "the bigs" of professional baseball. The players--all McGill faculty, staff and students--pay for their equipment and the field rental, although they do get a helpful discount from Athletics. Pictured above are the victorious members of Team Cheers. Left to right: (standing) Shannon Lenhan (league MVP), Christine Halse, George Forbes, Joyce Zenga, Terry Jones, Zvi Cohen and Elie Tordjman, (kneeling) Ken Gordon, Karen Rasinger, Wendy Gill and Natalie Zenga


Clearing the air

They might be swine, but it isn't their fault they smell bad. Agricultural engineering professor Suzelle Barrington says that if the atmosphere seems rather ripe around pig farms, the animals are innocent. She lays the blame at the doorstep of swine farmers who don't take the proper precautions.

"Pigs are actually very clean animals," argues Barrington, an expert on pig odour. "They only roll around in the mud to keep from baking. They don't have sweat glands like we do to help them cope with hot days." Pig odour and the stench caused by their manure is a major cause for concern in rural areas. Barrington was an organizer and a presenter at a recent all-day Macdonald Campus symposium on the pig industry where the stinky subject was aired frequently. "Many people living near a piggery find it unbearable," says Barrington, adding that eau de porc doesn't do much to endear the province to visiting vacationers either. "Tourists in Drummondville this August were complaining about smelling pig manure." So what can be done? Barrington advises pig farmers to keep their animals indoors much of the time in well-ventilated and dim quarters. "Pigs are quite comfortable in the dark." Automatic water sprayers on hot days help, as does covering droppings with peat moss or straw. Pig manure is a popular-if smelly-fertilizer, and while the federal government encourages farmers to spread the stuff in August, Barrington says Montreal-area farmers can wait until autumn instead when the air is cooler and the smell doesnąt carry so much. Oh, and one more thing--be nice to the porkers. It turns out that a stress-free pig is a (relatively) sweet smelling pig.


Our dour endower

McGill's 175th anniversary has sparked a great deal of reminiscing about the University's past. There is at least one group on campus that thinks about McGill's history all the time­anniversary celebrations or not.

The James McGill Society regularly organizes lectures and symposiums about the University's past. "I think it's important to keep alive the memories of the struggles, triumphs, and in some cases, the setbacks of an institution like McGill," says society president Peter McNally, a professor of library and information studies.

The society's first lecture this semester will focus on one of the most important--and eccentric--characters in McGill history--19th century tobacco magnate William Macdonald. A remarkable benefactor, Macdonald's gifts include the Macdonald Stewart Library,

Macdonald-Harrington and Macdonald Engineering buildings, the land on which the McLennan Library stands, the land north of Pine Avenue where the Montreal Neurological Institute, several student residences and Molson Stadium were built and most of Macdonald Campus.

Macdonald was a reclusive figure and something of a miser outside of his dealings with McGill. Though tobacco made him rich, he despised the stuff with a passion and professors and students were always careful to butt out when he arrived for a visit. He also insisted that Macdonald Campus toilet stalls be built of marble. "More young men have been corrupted by what they have seen written on toilet stalls than many of us imagine. Writing on marble is easily effaced."

McGill historian Stanley Frost and Rob Michel, a former McGill archivist now working at the Canadian Centre for Architecture will talk about Macdonald's life October 9 in the Faculty Club's Ballroom. An opening reception is scheduled for 5 pm, the presentation will begin at 5:30 and everyone is welcome to attend.