2-888-079 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

London Ice Carts, 1850. 'Science has lent her aid to the refinement, in multiplying the means of producing artificial cold with the rapidity of machinery; yet, the demand for the natural material has, from year to year, vastly increased in spite of this forced supply. London receives annually her cargoes of crystal ice from Wenham Lake...Norway and Sweden likewise send to us their shiploads...The scene of the collection of the ice, as well as its conveyance, has its humours; and the latter are made cleverly characteristic by the comic pencil of the Artist...Ice is not only employed in the composition of various refreshments, but also to preserve viands which heat tends to deteriorate; and sometimes it is used as a therapeutic agent in illness'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.