LIVERPOOL CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
393 
True, in their ‘ Catalogus Chemicorum et Gfalenicorum’ we find Viperse Siccat. and Vinum 
Yiperinum, together with a selection of Materia Medica which would not meet the ap¬ 
proval of Plough Court; yet that master, sitting quietly behind his desk, was wise in his 
generation, being persuaded that light and space and decoration were not three high¬ 
roads to his ruin. 
It is clear, then, that even in shop furniture there is a style to be avoided, as well as 
a style to copy. Should we be worse chemists, or understand our business less, had we 
a good collection of plans, drawings, models (working or otherwise) ; in short, the whole 
series that would be included in the words druggists’ fixtures ? 
But it is whispered, allow the trade fitter to know his own business; that is precisely what 
we want—allow him ; for, up to the present moment, he has not had the chance, having 
nothing else as yet to guide his taste or form his judgment than his own discretion and 
the dictates of routine. For him specially would an Industrial Museum be a gain, sup¬ 
plying him with an energetic stimulus for exertion, and bringing him face to face with 
his own public. Nor least would be the personal advantage that would result from th 
study of different styles of work ; the reign of mannerism would be ended, and the in¬ 
terest both of the druggist and the fitter would be mutually advanced. I am aware tha 
I shall excite a smile when I pass to minor considerations. I console myself with the re¬ 
flection that Faraday wrote on the art of lighting fires, and that Professor Sedwood has 
or had, a lecture on the mystery of making pills. 
The popular symbol of the druggist is the pestle,—its use is to combine ingredients 
into pills, and it is supplied by the druggist’s sundryman. He sends the well-known 
article, broad at the base, gradually tapering to the handle. This instrument is ingeni¬ 
ously constructed so as to disperse and not combine the pill mass, with this additional 
advantage, that the leverage is reduced to its minimum. Large houses order their own 
pestles from other than pharmaceutic centres, and, in my dispensing counter, you will 
observe mortars wanting pestles, not from any want of liberality on the part of Dr. Ed¬ 
wards, but simply because the right pestle is not ready for the right place. 
Take, if you will, the short spatula also for making pills, of which there should exist 
two kinds, one for service in the mortar, the other for working on the slab. To this day, 
the first one only is provided. When a new assistant enters on his duties, with that con¬ 
fiding trustfulness which accepts whatever comes, he does his slab-work with the regula¬ 
tion spatuld, stiff certainly, but long and narrow ; no sooner does his verdant character as¬ 
sume a lighter hue, than accidentally he breaks a long dispensing-spatula, simply because 
he gets a useful shape, short, straight, not rounded off, and very broad,—an implement 
of which the druggist’s sundryman knows nothing. 
Labelling is worth at least a passing notice, though the details of the subject seem 
almost too obvious to be mentioned. A label should be legible, and that is the best 
label which is read most easily. I am not sure that we have done Wisely in having 
abandoned the old black and white plain painted label with which our ancestors were 
content, but the present taste demands more ornament, and will scarcely tolerate such 
rigid utilitarian practice. Still, the lettering of the label should first strike the eye, and 
not a mass of gilding ; nor can any predilection for outward show justify the fantastic 
and florid specimens from Paris. I am bound in honour to admit that for acid bottles"' 
and essential oils, there is no label equal to the black letter on white enamel as now im¬ 
ported from the other side of the Channel. Theoretically the best label is the one printed 
in straight lines, one underneath the other, thus 
Tinct. 
Cardamom. 
Comp. 
The general aspect of this label is however too severe. I still incline to think that 
there is no better form than that indicated on the other side.f 
But when we advance to higher considerations, and try to grapple with, the difficulties 
which beset our path, the subject rises into far graver importance. 
The claim for an Industrial Museum is urgent and imperative when we leave behind 
* English manufacturers are endeavouring to imitate this design, but the white ground is 
as yet inferior. 
f Drawing given in the original paper. 
