The problems of the storekeeper who arranges his windows, however, overlap the problems of the manufacturer who prepares his goods for the world-market, and who must from the start take care that the outer appearance of his goods stimulate the readiness to buy.  In factories in which these questions have been carefully considered, the psychological elements have always been found to be the most influential, but often the most puzzling.  I received material from a number of industrial plants which sold the same article in a variety of packings.  The material which was sent to me included all kinds of soaps and candies, writing-papers and breakfast foods, and other articles which are handled by the retailer, the sale of which depends upon the inclination and caprice of the customer in the store.  For every one of these objects a number of external covers and labels were sent and with them a confidential report with details about their relative success.  For instance, a certain kind of chocolate was sold under 12 different labels.  One of them was highly successful in the whole country, and one other had made the same article entirely unsaleable.  The other 10 could be graded between these extremes.  In all 12 cases the covers were decorated with pictures of women with a scenic background.  As long as only aesthetic values were considered, all were on nearly the same level, and aesthetically skilled observers repeatedly expressed their preference for some of the unsuccessful pictures over some of the successful ones.  But as soon as an internal relation was formed between the pictures and the chocolate, in the one case a mental harmony resulted which had strong suggestive power, in the other case a certain unrest and inner disturbance which necessarily had an inhibiting influence.  The picture which was unsuccessful with the sweets would perhaps have been eminently successful for tobacco.  From such elementary starting-points, the laboratory experiment might proceed systematically into spheres of economic life hitherto untouched by scientific methods.  The psychology of the influence of external forms on the conscious reactions of the masses is so far usually considered only when, as often happens, the most fundamental demands are violated; for instance, when objects which are to give the impression of ease are painted in colors which give a heavy, clumsy appearance, or vice versa, when book-bindings are lettered in archaic type which makes the reading of the title impossible for a passer-by, and in many similar antipsychological absurdities which any stroll through the streets of a modern city forces on us.

XXII

EXPERIMENTS WITH REFERENCE TO ILLEGAL IMITATION