222 
ON  iESTHETXCAL  PHARMACY. 
ture,  in  quality  of  material,  and  simple  beauty  of  form,  leaves 
hardly  more  to  be  desired, 
My  idea  is,  a  few  good  bottles  rather  than  many  cheap  ones  ; 
nor  should  shelving  be  cumbered  with  glass  or  porcelain  jars  for 
ornament  merely. 
The  shop  label  has  been  the  subject  of  endless  changes,  until 
now  the  elegance  of  some  of  the  forms  is  only  matched  by  bril- 
liancy and  durability  where  glass  and  porcelain  are  used.  At  the 
prescription  counter,  a  happy  adaptation  of  means  to  ends  should 
be  studied,  in  the  conveniences  of  it ;  the  dispensing  bottles  small, 
in  order  to  be  in  sufficient  numbers ;  the  various  necessary  appli- 
ances near  at  hand ;  no  room  lost  in  it  or  under  it. 
I  doubt  whether  the  usual  practice  of  surrounding  the  top  of 
the  prescription  counter  with  a  close  rail  or  case  to  free  the  ope- 
rator from  external  observation  while  at  work,  compensates  for 
the  careless  habits  it  may  lead  to,  and  the  dirt  corner  it  affords ; 
better  a  rather  high  counter,  marble  top  perfectly  open,  serving 
to  display  skilful  and  graceful  manipulatory  work,  and  clean 
utensils,  for  these  are  aesthetic.  Arrange  the  position  of  draw- 
ers and  shop  bottles  with  reference  to  the  principal  working  cen- 
tre, or  scale  of  the  shop  ;  that  is,  having  those  articles  most  used 
nearest  to  it,  not  by  any  arbitrary  alphabetical  rule,  for  the  first 
aids  the  rapid  dispatch  of  business,  and  the  last  is  surely  no 
stimulus  to  memory.  Do  not  paper  walls,  for  no  matter  how 
nicely  done,  it  has  a  cheap  look ;  better  a  pure  white,  even  with 
white  fixtures;  it  is  a  fine  offset  to  dark  ones. 
In  fresco  or  calcimine  ornamentation  use  soft  colors,  no  strong, 
exciting  ones  ;  by  exciting  ones  I  mean  such  high  bright  ones  as 
will  produce  upon  the  eye  of  an  excitable  person  the  same  ef- 
fect, comparatively,  that  the  red  cloth  does  on  the  bull.  Above 
all,  do  not  allow  your  ambitious  fresco  artist  to  crowd  impossible 
flowers  or  fantastic  scroll  work  into  impossible  places :  simple 
panel  work  in  delicate  tints  is  to  be  preferred. 
If  you  cannot  afford  marble  or  tile  for  flooring,  cover  it  with 
something,  if  nothing  better  than  rugget,  or  oil  cloth :  in  the  lat- 
ter choose  the  stone,  or  tile  colors  and  design— not  the  flower 
patterns, 
