New-York tribune., 1910-06-20
DEFENCE OF NATURAL ICE
Exception Taken to Argument
That 1t Is Impure.

10 I1e ErClIOG OF me 111DOne.
Sir: Again / must request YOU in fair
ness, which your publication of my. previ-
Gus letter assures me you have. to allow
attention to be called to the very inaccu-
rate and entirely unwarranted statements
made by the unknown author of that Sc
ries Of articles entitled. LAS to Our Ice"
in his third contribution. If he possessed
as much information as he might easily
obtain by consulting the results Of the
studies of such eminent sanitarians, chem
lists and bacteriologists as l referred to last
week he would not. unless he deliberately
misrepresents the truth. say or imply that
there is any danger from the natural ice
sold in New York City He would not then
have to rely upon DR.. Prudden's work of
many wears ago but could quote DR.. ".
T Sedgewick of the Massachusetts, Insti-
tute of Technology. who says: ''As a We
hicle Of disease ice is plainly far less dan
gerors TO the public health than is either
water or milk: or DR.. W. H. Park. where
he saws (Records of American Medical AS
sociation for 1900: Even the top ice,
soiled by the horses and men gathering 1t,
contained only 16 per cent as many bacteria
as the water from which il was frozen.
The bottom ice. the last to be frozen, had
only per cent Of those in the water.
The danger from the use OF ice produced
from polluted water is always much less
than from the use of the water itself.
Every week that the ice is stored the dan
ger becomes less, so that at four weeks 1t
has become as much purified from typhoid
bacilli as II subjected to sand filtration.
At the end of four months the danger be-
comes almost negligible. and at the end Of
six months quite so" Natural ice is cut
in January and February. It is sold from
June on GO per cent of all ice sales are
between June Is and September 80.
The writer if he knows anything Of the
production of natural ice al all, must know
there are elevator pianers at every ice
house on the Hudson (and at nearly every
one in the country, which cut off from two
RI ten inches Of ice from the top of each
cake as il passes up the incline to the
Storeroorns. This planning removes all sur
face dirt. etc, and the ice which is formed
as a result of flooding ice fields This
flooding or tapping as he calls 1t. is done
not primarily to thicken the ice, but TO
get rid of snow which has fallen 70 g. con-
siderable depth on an ice field too thin to
fold horses and snow scrapers- II the
snow stays there the ice will not grow
thick Wet down. it freezes quickly mot
rr1eIts. as he says). ten inches OF snow
king less than two inches OF snow ice
and this is cut off by the elevator planers.
II fs the universal use of the planers and
other modern machinery for handling nat
,,rs1 ice which led DR. Porter, Health Com
missioner of this state. TO say, after MS
investigation of the Hudson River ice,
Natural ice IS not, and from its very nat
.,,re and method of harvest cannot be.
-he Hudson River. or anywhere else, takes
Two cakes of thin ice and makes one thick
one out of them, as your author evidently
thinks. he must be a Wonoer "oIhel' anu
do 1t secretly at that
AS TO bacteria In natural ice. one does
NOT have 10 be scientist to understand
hon -e1,ch organisms cannot survive. The
-,a+bo-enic bacteria are used to the tenn
nera+,,re of the human body. $50 degrees
Fahrenheit. as they inhabit the lower in
,astines They are motile. l. e., move about
They are aerobic. l. e, require air to breathe.
They require food. II they escape the
nurifying effects of freezing and are caught
among the ice crystals they are held at
,emperature from 90 to 20 degrees lower
than their proper environment They can
not move about in solid ice. There is no
food for them There Is no air Is 1t any
wonder they are reduced in number about
IN ,,er cent after exposure TO freezing tenn
oerature for a period OF one hour, 80 per
cent after twenty-four hours and practlcal-
" 100 per cent after exposure from two TO
three weeks.
1.-The few that are not killed after ex-
posure for. say, one month, have become
so attenuated as to be unable TO produce
disease" as DR.. Porter says tBulletln
State Board of Health. March. 1900. Ihat
is a simple statement. and it seems to me
convincing in its reasonableness OF Whdt
banpens TO bacteria in ice II is the length
of time they are exposed to the colo Whlch
counts most however. Many man taxes
his cold plunge in winter who would De
killed by lying down in his tub OF colo
,rater Tor far less than an hour, even Anu
remember, natural fee is in storage IN ice
bouse. for two to five and six months ne-
for. heing sold. HAROLD W. coLt'
secretary Natural Ice Association OF Amer
lea.
New York June Il, 1910.