112 Review of Dr. Antisell’s Work 
ArT. XIV.— Review of Dr. Antisell’s Work on Photogenic Oils, de. 
[The following Review of Dr. Antisell’s book on Photogenic Oils has been 
for some months in type waiting an opportunity when our other engagements 
would permit its publication. It will amply repay the careful perusal of all 
who are interested in this important practical subject.—Eps.] 
REVIEW. 
1. The Manufacture of Photogenic or Hydro-Carbon Oils from Coal and 
other Bituminous Substances capable of supplying Burning Fluids; by Tuomas 
Antisett, M.D., Professor of Chemistry in the Medical Department of 
Georgetown an D. C., ete. etc. New York and London: D. Appleton & 
o9. pp. 144,— i 
Co. 18 In entering an earnest protest against the work before 
us, we would not have our motives misunderstoo of those 
ho would condemn a book solely on the or d that it is “not so 
as it should be,” and will not therefore urge this objection against the effo 
f our Author, although it would be hard to c the charge 
would more forcibly apply. But we do cond most heartily the presump- 
tion of the man who in these days attempts to write a handboo upon any 
scientific or technological subject with which he is not somewhat familiar. 
€, Moreover, that errors, either of omission or of commission— 
accidental or intentional—in scientific writings, which exceed the well-under- 
stood conventional limits of tolerance, should not be allowed quietly to pass 
n. 
without correctio 
WwW n, has naturally had a rare opportunity of familiarising himself with 
the recent improvements which have ma imed—in nufac- 
ture of coal In the in question, he h hed an index of these, 
e hay 
Author regarded his subject. Claiming the attention of all persons enga 
in the manufacture of liquid products from the distillation of mineral combus- 
tibles, his work is nevertheless not a didactic one. In it scarcely any attempt 
n several instances, moreover, erroneous assertions are made, or wron 
conclusions drawn. QOne or two of these we propose to discuss and correct 
* In this respect our author has fallen far below the level attained by previous 
writers upon the sub ect. Compare for example: Untensuru, Handbuch der Photo- 
gen-und Parafin-Fabrikation, Quedlinburg Basse, 1858, 
fi 
