Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-08-07
GREAT INCREASE IN
ENGLISH USE OF ICE
London Physician Declares
That Consumption Has
QuadrupIed.
Foreign CORRESPONDENCE of The Star.

Foreign Correspondence of The Star
LONDON, July %, 1910.
A we'll known Harley street doctor
stated authoritatively the other day
that the consumption of ice had quad
rupled in this country during the past
decade Various causes contributed to
this Increased demand-commercia
astronomical and medical-and this
increase has been coeval with a very
large diminution in the natural ice
trade, and a proportional development
in the manufacture of artificial ice.
Ice is not known in England, as Ameri-
cans soon learn, as it is at home. where
every house and tiny fiat has it's re-
frigerator filled with ice every day in
the summer. and where home with
out ice is no home at ALL But the
average summer heat here is far less
than in America and the English have
not yet been educated up to liking
their drinks as cold as Americans do.
Certainly ices and ice cream have come
into much more common use here dur
ing the last ten years. 1t was possible
only a short time ago to get an ice
only at a foreign-kept restaurant or at
one or two hotels. Now. nearly every
cookshop and candy shop supplies ices
in summer.
Origin of Ices.
The exact origin of ices seems STROUD
ed in mystery, but it is somewhat an
cient. According to Alexandra Dumas,
in his dictionary, when King Francis I
had meeting with Pope Paul III and
the Emperor Charles at Nice, in the
sixteenth century. his attendant ply
sician was much astonished to see that
ha two ut hn W In
glittering Jumps of ice brought from
the mountains Ices, on the same au-
thority, were introduced into France
by Florentine named Procope in 1860.
in the reign of Louis XIV. The famous
Cafe Procope was opened in that year
in the Rue de L Ancienne-COmed and
existed there until quite recent date.
Invention of Ice Cream.
Another writer asserts that the dis
coverer of ice cream was a French chef
in the employment of the Due de Char
tres, who exultingly set the dish before
him On a hot day in 1774." DR.. Fernie
again. says that confectionery ices were
introduced by Catherine de Medici In the
sixteenth century.
A pleasant custom prevailed In London
up till at least thirty years ago. On a
summer afternoon the whole of the cir
Gle of Berkeley square would be sur
rounded by a ring of perfectly appointed
carriages, barouches, landaus and the
like, and the occupants, ladies dressed in
the height Of the then prevailing fashion,
would send the footman to Gunter's to
bring them ices, which were deliberately
and appreciatively eaten in the carriages
under the shade of the immemorial
Berkeley Square trees. The fashion has
disappeared.
Not so many years ago much, IL not
most, of the ice consumed in London and
other large towns in England was nat
ural ice, and came largely from Nor
way and from Lake Wenham, Mass,
which has always been celebrated for it's
purity. Nowadays, however, practically
all ice Is artificial-and is, curiously
enough. much the better for it. Natural
ice is often full Of impurities, vegetable
deposits and refuse of all kinds, but man.
ufactured ice is purer than ordinary drink
ing water, for not only is the water good
and clean to begin with, but the chalk
which it contains Is extracted before
freezing.