A medicine bottle with a solid silica flaky drying agent is disclosed. In accordance with the present invention, a brush seal assembly comprises a flange, a brush seal mounted to the flange, and retainers preventing rotation of the brush seal relative to the flange. The net retardance of the system is less than the sum of the retardance contributions of the respective optical elements as the elements are oriented such that the intrinsic birefringences of the individual elements cancel each other out. The guide block has a non-circular aperture formed therein.