1889] 263 



ANALYSES OF ICE FROM THE OTTAWA DISTRICT. 



By R. F. RUTTAN, B.A., M.D., CM., 

 Professor of Chemistry, McGill Medical College, Montreal, Que. 



The following notes obtained in the analyses of three 

 samples of ice sent me from the Ottawa District marked 

 respectively: I, II and III, may not be uninteresting to the 

 readers of The Ottawa Naturalist and are herein sub- 

 mitted as recorded at the Chemical Labratories, McGill College, 

 Montreal, January 7th, 1893.. 



Sample i. — From the Gatineau River above Roman 

 Catholic Church. 



Sample 2. — From Gilmour's Point, Ottawa River, Quebec 

 side. 



Sample 3. — -Above Chaudiere Falls, Ottawa River, 500 feet 

 from shore, Ontario side. 



Appended to this note will be found the tabulated results 

 of the analyses. In general terms, I may say, that all three 

 samples are perfectly wholesome and may be used with safety 

 for domestic purposes. 



Not only did I make a chemical analysis but obtained 

 what 1 consider more important from a sanitary point of view, 

 a bacteriological analysis of the three samples. The bacteriolo- 

 gical analysis entirely confirmed the chemical one. 



All three samples were practically free from bacteria of any 

 kind. From sample No. 2 only one single Hvmg bacterium was 

 detected in the experiments made. The relative purity of these 

 samples as compared with Ottawa or St. Lawrence water may 

 be appreciated when it is considered that the same number of 

 samples would have yielded from either of these waters in the 

 experiments made upwards of 1,000 bacteria in the three cubic 

 centimetres used. 



The single bacterium in sample No. 2 may or may not in- 

 dicate a less degree of purity in this particular sample. The 

 single bacterium mig-ht easily be obtained from the atmosphere 

 as a necessary error of experiment. 



With regard to the chemical analysis, the results are 

 decidedly in favour of sample No. 3 over samples i and 2. 



Samples i and 2 contain a stratum of bubbley ice through 

 the middle. The bubbles being long and spindle-shaped and 

 would indicate that the ice was grown in shallower water than that 

 from which No. 3 was obtained. This, of course, is not so 

 favourable a condition for the formation of pure ice as where the 

 volume of water is very large compared with the thickness of 

 the ice formation. 



