224 
ON  JESTHETICAL  PHARMACY. 
sizes  and  shapes ;  dispensing  bottles  of  various  kinds,  of  better 
qualities  and  selected  finish ;  and  so  with  corks  and  seals. 
These  and  a  hundred  other  excellencies  in  dispensing,  must  be 
developed  by  acquired  experience  in  aesthetic  rules. 
THen,  again,  labels.  Nowhere  in  Pharmacy  can  greater  good 
or  bad  taste  be  shown  than  in  dispensing  labels ;  few  even  of 
printers  or  engravers  can  make  a  passable  one.  In  my  own  ex- 
perience I  have  met  with  but  one  real  genius  who,  as  a  u  typo," 
understood  the  harmonious  relations  of  type  so  as  to  make  a 
really  elegant  label ;  while  engravers  and  lithographers,  who  are 
not  compelled  to  submit  to  the  arbitrary  forms  of  type  in  arran- 
ging the  form  or  contents  of  a  label,  produce  but  little  choice 
work. 
It  is  almost  impossible  to  offer  suggestions  as  to  how  they 
should  be  clone.  Experience  is  the  best  teacher,  aided  by  the 
comparison  of  those  used  by  competing  pharmaceutists.  My  idea 
is  that  in  labels  simplicity  of  form  and  borders,  terseness  of  word- 
ing, truth  in  explaining  merits  or  composition  of  material,  plain 
directions,  fine  quality  of  paper  and  ink,  and  good  press-work, 
should  all  be  looked  to. 
The  manner  of  holding  a  graduate,  of  handling  a  spatula,  of 
rolling  a  pestle,  of  corking  a  bottle,  of  wrapping  it,  of  tying  a 
package,  of  handing  it  to  a  customer,  of  taking  and  paying 
change,  can  all  be  benefitted  by  a  touch  of  the  aesthetic. 
In  the  introduction  of  specialities  and  their  putting  up,  is  a 
fruitful  field  of  aesthetic  taste.  Doubtless,  most  of  my  confreres 
of  the  Association  have  studied  and  reflected  upon  this  subject 
themselves,  and  to  those  only  who  may  not  have  done  so,  and  to 
the  beginner  in  business  life,  does  the  subject  apply. 
So  on,  by  earnestly  and  carefully  feeling  the  way  along,  day 
by  day,  one  may  find  continually  new  methods  and  new  ways  of 
cultivating  the  beautiful  in  the  details  of  laboratory  and  shop, 
and  in  general  management  of  business. 
Detroit,  Sep.  1st,  1863. 
Proceed.  Amer.  Pharm.  Assoc.,  1863. 
