Historic antifreeze

Alan J. Hawk <alan.hawk [at] us__army__mil> writes

>Jane Hamill <j.hamill [at] scott__aq> writes
>
>>I am working on a container of unidentified liquid, with a label 'a
>>little of this amongst the water helps to prevent freezing' ...
>
>Perhaps it was an antifreeze for drinking water.

No. Drinking water would not have antifreeze put in it. Aside from
the fact that most antifreezes are poisonous or have negative health
effects, including salt and alcohol, in those environments one does
not drink sub-zero temperature liquids. That would cause freezing of
the esophagus and cool the internal body temperature dangerously.
All peoples living out in subzero environments melt snow and ice for
their drinking water, and drink it as hot tea or soup. One only eats
snow if desperate and doesn't have access to fire.

People of European ancestry of that era would drink alcohol to warm
up, preferably as a hot toddy, but alcohol provides a false warmth.
It causes the peripheral blood supply to open up, making the
extremities and face feel warm, but at the expense of cooling the
body core, thus making hypothermia more likely. People of the day
didn't realize that, but they wouldn't have added alcohol to
drinking water, they would just have had a shot of rum when they
felt like it.

Valerie Tomlinson
Conservator
Auckland Museum
Tamaki Paenga Hira
The Domain
Private Bag 92018
Auckland 1142, New Zealand
+64 9 306 7068


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 24:51
                  Distributed: Thursday, May 12, 2011
                       Message Id: cdl-24-51-003
                                  ***