TYPHOID FEVER IlST DISTRICT OP COLUMBIA. 
101 
are seldom if ever cleaned and are of doubtful value from a bacte- 
riological standpoint; that filthy water-closets and urinal rooms are 
very near, or opening on the ice-making rooms; and that stable and 
places for harnessed horses are close to the factories and wells, the 
men working on ice having frequently to walk through manure or 
fresh horse droppings. 
It is suggested that the cans, wooden covers, tanks, and filters 
should be thoroughly cleaned at certain stated intervals and often 
enough to insure cleanliness; that no one be allowed on or about 
the cans and tanks except those necessary to handle them or 
the ice; that those employed to make or handle ice be required 
to wear clean suits and slippers or shoes, kept clean and worn 
only wliile working ^^on ice,’’ and never to water-closets, urinals, 
stables, yards, etc.; that dressing rooms, with lavatories, adjoin- 
ing the ice-making rooms, be furnished for the men working on ice; 
that better and sufficient water closets be furnished, convenient to 
the ice-making rooms; that all unused rooms be properly cleaned 
and then closed; that yards and hillsides nearby be cleared of weeds, 
penalties being imposed for urinating or defecating therein or thereon; 
that all stables, water-closets, urinals, etc., be so arranged as to 
diminish the danger of dragging manure or infection to the ice; and 
that only water of good quality be used for making either can or 
plate ice. 
LABORATORY EXAMINATIONS OF ICE AND THE WATERS FROM 
WHICH ICE IS MANUFACTURED. 
The specimens of ice for these examinations were purchased on the 
open market, sometimes Irom the wagon and sometimes directly from 
the storehouse or factory. 
The specimens were handled mth sterilized tongs, then thoroughly 
washed with sterile water, and finally placed in sterilized receptacles 
to melt, which action was facilitated by the aid of gentle heat not 
exceeding 40° C. As soon as the ice was melted samples of the 
water, while still cold, were taken for bacteriological and chemical 
examinations. The water thus obtained from the ice usually con- 
tained little particles of straw, splinters of wood, and ‘^dirt,” some 
of which sometimes adhered tenaciously to the surface, while others 
were found to be embedded throughout the substance of the ice. 
It is interesting to note that from the specimens examined both 
the natural ice and the manufactured ice contained practically the 
same average number of bacteria per cubic centimeter; but the colon 
bacillus was encountered nearly twice as frequently (50 per cent as 
against 28.7 per cent) in the natural specimens as in manufactured ice. 
It is further very interesting to note that the colon bacillus was 
not encountered in the 7 specimens of ‘‘can” ice examined, whereas 
