Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1914-09-24

inconclusive VI. s. Cumming in a
recent article in the United States
Public Health reports makes study
from the point OF view of the source
of ice, the physical and bioIogic
changes accompanying or consequent
on its formation, and the methods en-
ployed in its collection or manufacture
and handling.
| Ice is either natural or artificial.
Until recently, in order to secure
clean, transparent artificial ice, it was
necessary to distil the water used,
thus destroying all disease germs pre-
sent. With the newer methods en-
ployed, liberation is held to be in
sufficient. Cumming remarks that the
fact, well wnoWn to chemists, that dur
ing capitalization nearly all extran-
eous substances are expelled from the
crystal. was overlooked by sanitarians
until recently. AS Whipple says:
qualitatively the early psychologists
were right; quantitatively they were
wrong" In the formation of natural
ice, most of the impurities are expell-
ed into the waters of the pond or
stream; and the same result is attain
ed in the newer methods of artificial
|ice-making. BY the "can" method,
cans of water are immersed in the
freezing mixture, As the freezing pro-
ceeds the impurities are forced toward
the center. I'm one ofe the newer me-
thods, large cans are used and the
cakes of ice are cut into smaller ones,
eliminating the dirty core. By another
new "can" method, the impurities are
expelled into about six inches of water
kept liquid by agitation. In the
splate" method, the water is contained
in large tanks, on one side of which
are pipes containing the freezing mix
ture. The water freezes next the pipes
in plates about IL inches thick, and
the impurities are expelled into the
waters beyond.
Some natural ice is undoubtedly de-
rived from polluted rivers or ponds
from polluted YATES: The first, as
Just mentioned, is crystallization; the
second is temperature fact that
freezing destroys a large percentage
of bacteria; the third and most i'm
portant is time-the loner the time
intervening between the infection of
water and it's use las water or as ice)
the slighter the chance of the sur
vival of the germs. On this score,
natural ice which is collected and
stored for several monehs before ship
ment, has the advantage over artifi-
cial ice, which is usually marketed
soon after it is made. Owing to these
three factors crystallizati temper
allure and time-clean. sanitary factor
les may be regarded as safe; so also
may natural ice cut from reasonable
pure deep ponds or lakes and stored
under sanitary conditions. Artificial
ice made from polluted water in dirty,
insanitary factories is unsafe; natural
ice cut from shalloW polluted ponds or
from grossly polluted rivers is also un-
safe. Any disappearing, cloudy ice
may be infected as well as polluted;
no such ice should be used, in contact
with food or drinks. Ice which is
otherwise safe may become infected
by improper handling-by being drag
ged across dirty streets or sidewalks.
OF distributed by unclean hands. This
is the great source of danger. Sum-
ming UP the situation, The Journal of
the American Medical Association
says that we may practically eliminate
danger by avoiding the handling of ice
with dirty hands, by washing the ice
with pure water, and by using only
clear ice.