The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-01-04
GERMS IN THE ICE.
FREEZING WATER DOES NOT KILL
ALL THE BACTERIA.

Health Boards.
1t is popularity supposed that water tn
freezing becomes purified, and hat the IN
furious elements that there may be IN II are
eliminated bv the action OF the frost. For a
long time il was considered that even though
leo was frozen over water known to be hlthy
the ice was nevertheless pure, and the APP
parent sanction of sG-icc was given to this
theory. Recent Investigations by learned
microscopists have. however, thrown new
light upon this question. and while il is still
admitted that n large percentage OF the IN
iur;ons elements OF impure water become
lost when il is frozen it has also been shown
that enough impurities remain in the frozen
water to make IL possible 10 spread TO an
alarming extent any disease the infectious
clements OF which were contained IN the
water in its liquid state.
One of the persons who has made an ex-
haustivc study OF this subject is DR. i. Mitch
ell Prudden, the director of the laboratory
Of the College of Physicians and Surgeons IN
this city. In the early part of the year he
contributed a long article to I'll Medical
Record, in which he showed the result OF
very careful analyses of different samples OF
ice taken from all the sources of supply
around New York. He came to the conclu-
sion that typhoid fever and possibly cholera
might easily be spread among the consumers
Of the ice which is formed on the Hudson.
'This river" lie says, sis at the best rather
shallow, and large quantities of detritus an
nually brought down the stream cause con
slant and considerafl lie change In the bottom.
The islands in the river from Coxsackie 10
Albany are gradually formed from the scdi-
mentary deposit. At the upper part Of this
section, Troy, n city of over 5000 inhabit-
ants, empties daily 100000 gallons of sew
age into the river, which is already charged
with contributions from Cohoes and Lansing
burg, to say nothing of the impurities
brought by the Mohawk from the west. A
few miles below Troy Albany, with over
10000 inhabitants, has also an efficient sew
age system, which il pours directly into the
river"
Taking the results Of all his analyses of ice
from the various sources, he finds that the
average number of living bacteria contained
in ono cubic centimeter Of the melted ice Is
2,GS3, or, to put it in more comfnon terms, a
pint of melted ice would harbOr about 10000
living bacteria Of various kinds lie who,
impressed with the importance Of a pure
drinking water, should perfectly filter half u
glass of average winter Croton water and
then add to it an equal quantity of average
ice, would have the satisfaction Of replacing
the bacteria removed with more than eight
times as many from more uncertain and
questionable sources.
One reason, DR.. Pruden says, why 1t was
never before known by scientific men that
ice might contain the germs of disease was
that the only method Of research was by
chemical examination. These could not, cx-
cept theoretically, determine the presence of
bacteria. 1t is no longer necessary TO infer
their presence. These living germs may now
he actually counted, and their species and
actions on the animal body definitely deter
mined. The new method by which this in
formation is obtained is called the biological
analysis.
In the experiments made by DR.. PrudeD
samples Of ice which contained evident gross
impurities, such as grass and straw, were in
all cases rejected as not fairly representative.
II has been shown that bacteria may exist in
enormous numbers without impairing the
clearness and Transparency Of the ice.
DR.. Pruden made biological analyses of i53
samples taken from blocks of ice from the
Hudson river at various points from West
Park to the vicinity of Troy. These en-
braced samples fic.n all the prominent ice
fields and many Of the small ones. In all Of
these he found q large number Of bacteria Of
different kinds. Snow Ice, DR.. Pruden
found, contained many times the number Of
bacteria found in transparent ice taken from
the same blocks. Bubbly ice was also i'm
~pregnated to n much larger extent than
transparent ice with these organisms, but lie
found that this rule as to hubby ice and snow
leo holds good only when the water from
which the ice is formed contains a onsider
able number of bacteria.
Hudson river ice contained a much larger
number Of bacterial impurities than the ice
taken from the other waters near New York,
and, while some of these bacteria may be
considered harmless, others, he said, were un-
doubtedly injurious. The fact that two com
mon and very important bacterial forms Of
disease, typhoid fever and diseases associated
with blood poisoning, are almost constantly
present in large towns like Troy and Albany,
and frequently in villages along the upper
Hudson, confirms the statement made by him
that Hudson river water is impure for drink
ing purposes. He says he does not know
whether the bacteria Of typhoid fever may
retain life indefinitely or not in ice, as the
longest period in which they have been kept
frozen to his knowledge is l03 days.
He suggests that the state board OF health,
or some other authorized body, should have
full control over the ice harvesting fields,
and by a system If inspection not less strict
than that which should exist in the care Of
the ordinary water supply, determine which,
il any, Of the sources of ice supply are SO
situated as 10 imperil the health of the con-
sumers of the ice. In the case of the Hudson
river it would be necessary to establish by
most thorough scientific examination the
distances from all existing sources of sewage
pollution, at which it might be safely as
sumed that the water had freed itself from
bacteria and other impurities sufficiently to
form safe ice. 1t might in this way be pos
sible TO remove any chance of danger by
permitting the questionable or bad ice to be