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to rise with the cream, so that the ice contains a larger
number of microbes than the custard kind. There are
of course the additional risks from dirty vessels and
from contamination by dirty storage. On the whole
the richer variety, i.e., the more expensive, is somewhat
the more dangerous. It should be noted that freezing
the mixture does not destroy the vitality of the
microbes therein.
Water ices are made from fruits, sugar, and flavours,
with or without the white of eggs, or the equivalent
thereof. Ice is sometimes added to hasten the
freezing. Bacteria would be introduced in this variety
in the water or through uncleanliness in the vessels or
storage. These ices are usually less highly coloured
than cream ices, and therefore the makers have to
be more careful in respect of gross dirt otherwise the
ice would be unappetising.
It would be useless to enumerate the varieties of
microbes which have been found in the ices examined, as
they would not be exactly the same in any given series
examined. Suffice it to say that almost all the kinds
of microbes present in the dust of living rooms have
been found, together with such refuse as lice, bugs,
fleas, hairs of all descriptions, fragments of straw, fibres
from fabrics, &c., &c. It is needless to say that the
grosser impurities were found in ices procured from
small vendors in the lower strata of life. No organism
known as the cause of disease has been found. The
bacillus coli communis, an inhabitant of the intestines,