OUR ICE-SUPPLY AND ITS DANGERS. 669 



new in some parts of the track of the North American ice-belt, scat- 

 tered or piled in masses where the ancient moraines were gathered, 

 miles from tbeir kindred rock. And now over the surface of the bare, 

 forbidding region, slowly as the ages passed, crept the verdure which, 

 out of rock and air, was to recreate the world. Probably long before 

 man made his appearance, on this part of the continent at least, the 

 ice had all melted and gone to Avaste. He came, however, at last, the 

 savage, the Dutchman, and — most perfect bloom — the New-Yorker. 



In the early days of New York village life the stolid citizen was 

 far too busy to spend much thought on luxuries, in adapting himself 

 to the untried conditions of the New World and maintaining his foot- 

 hold against the wiles of his savage neighbors. His gustatory sense 

 bad, with characteristic directness, been contented for the most part 

 with plain unadorned rum when it felt the need of extraneous stimu- 

 lation, and this and other simple drinks were either taken an natnrel 

 or re-enforced by the addition of spices under the kindly offices of fire. 

 Water, which the early citizen may, in moments of relaxation of the 

 mental fiber, have playfully regarded as a beverage, was largely de- 

 rived from wells, and thus might be had of sufficient coolness to be 

 palatable under natural conditions. 



Half a century ago twoscore wagons sufficed to distribute all the 

 ice which was used in New York ; but the demand steadily increased, 

 until now nearly three and a half million tons are harvested annually, 

 in favorable seasons, in the vicinity of New York. Few realize how 

 much the comfort and welfare of all classes, especially in the summer 

 months, have come to depend upon that free use of ice which its abun- 

 dance and cheapness make possible. Untold dangers from the con- 

 sumption of spoiled meat and other fresh foods are warded off through 

 its preservative action, and their market value largely reduced. And 

 who can adequately realize the comfort and even life-saving agency of 

 ice among the sick and injured ? When the charities of New York 

 are summed up, the free distribution of ice-water in some districts of 

 our city should not be reckoned as among the least important. 



Perhaps of any single class of consumers of ice the brewers use the 

 largest quantities, to control the high temperature which accompanies 

 the fermentation of the wort ; but for this purpose processes of artifi- 

 cial cooling have, to a considerable extent, replaced the natural ice. 

 Ice-cream makers and market-men are also among the most important 

 consumers. The experiences of the writer would hardly justify him in 

 enlarging upon the multifarious concoctions into which ice enters be- 

 fore they are handed by the white-aproned autocrats over the more 

 or less attractive bars of our no longer temperate town to gilded and 

 brazen youth and statesmen, or to their humbler confreres and con- 

 stituents more commonly only dirt-adorned. On the whole, in spite 

 of its not infrequent abuse when used for drinking purposes in large 

 quantities and at unsuitable times, ice is one of the most indispensable 



