BOC#019 Box of Chocolates

Stings, Peppers, The Glutton Club, and Dormice...

May 12, 2025

3 MINUTE MUNCH

DID YOU KNOW: THE SCHMIDT PAIN SCALE IS AN INDEX FOR…

…ranking the pain caused by insect stings, devised by entomologist Dr Justin O Schmidt. Ranging from one to four, the western honeybee scores a mediocre two, while the South American bullet ant scores an agonizing four, which Schmidt describes as a “Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like walking over flaming charcoal with a three-inch nail embedded in your heel.” Schmidt, author of the award-winning title Sting of the Wild, won the Ig Nobel Prize in Physiology and Entomology in 2015.

The scale for rating chilli peppers and other spicy capsaicin containing substances is known as the the Scoville scale, derived by way of the Scoville Organoleptic Test. The test, named after its creator, Wilbur Scoville, involves diluting chilli extract in sugar water until the pungency can no longer be detected by a panel of tasters.

The Beaufort Scale (named after British Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort), is an observational maritime scale used to grade the effects of the wind on sea conditions. The scale runs from 0 to 12, where 0 implies ‘calm’ or ‘glassy’ waters, while a 12 indicates a hurricane. Imagined in 1805, the scale remains in use today, commonly used in Met Office marine forecasts.

WHILE AT CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY, CHARLES DARWIN PRESIDED OVER AND PARTICIPATED IN…

…the infamous Glutton Club whose sole purpose was to consume rare animal meats unknown to the human digestive tract, or more specifically, to eat ‘strange flesh’ and the flesh of ‘birds and beasts which were before unknown to the human palate.’ The club ceased to exist following the foul and ‘indescribable’ experience the young naturalist had while consuming the unpalatable meat of a tawny owl.

PASSAGE FROM THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO BY ALEXANDRE DUMAS ON THE POWER OF TIME:

“And what of that? Is not a day divided into twenty-four hours, each hour into sixty minutes, and every minute sub-divided into sixty seconds? Now in 86,400 seconds very many things can be done.”

When you put it like that!

ON THIS DAY: 12th MAY…

Besides being National Limerick Day, on this day in 1967 Jimi Hendrix released his debut album, Are You Experienced, and in 1937, George VI and Elizabeth were coronated at London’s Westminster Abbey.

WORD OF THE WEEK: DORMOUSE…

Despite having ‘mouse’ in its name, a dormouse isn’t actually a mouse, but a type of rodent belonging to the Gliridae family. The word Dormouse is thought to be a derivative of the Norman French word dormeus, which means sleepy, and is attributed to the creature due to their long hibernation periods.