Visited your homepage for the first time in a while, noticed something regarding the makeup of genus _Capsicum_.  Being a die-hard chilehead, I thought I'd nag you, just for fun, on a fine (perhaps trivial) point or two. :-)

> Please Note: Capsicum is the substance that surrounds the Hot Pepper Seeds.

So far so good, though while you're educating, might as well mention the placenta, which is the tissue actually surrounding the seeds. The oleo-resin itself is made by glands in the 'shoulder' of the pod, and is then concentrated in the placenta. Yeah, probably too much detail, but maybe at least it's interesting.

> This is a protective mechanism to keep animals from eating the seeds.

To keep _the_wrong_animals_ from eating the pods. Birds positively love them, and by eating them, fertilize the seeds, which they pass in their droppings.  They can be credited with the spread of chiles throughout the Americas.  In fact, most *primitive* varieties actually bear pods upright, rather than pendant, so that they appear *above* the leaves--making them perfect bird-bait.

The seeds themself have no benefit what so ever in Pain Reliefor in cooking! They're nearly tasteless, only slightly bitter, and lack any real pungency, because they're too hard to absorb the oleoresin from the placenta.

        Please Note:  Capsicum is the substance that surrounds the Hot
Pepper Seeds.  This is a protective mechanism to keep animals from
eating the seeds.  The seeds them self have no benefit what so ever in
Pain Relief.


Date: 12-22-92 (11:54)
From: BOB PADDOCK
  To: WAYNE BRIGGS
Subj: Topical Pain Medication
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
WB>     Many folks may know this already; but some may not. There is an
WB>over the counter pain medication made with extract from hot peppers. It
WB>is available in two strengths, 0.025% or 0.075%, Capsicum Oleoresin.

Date: 12-24-92 (12:59)
From: BOB PADDOCK
  To: STEVE AMBROSINI
Subj: Shingles
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SA>My father recently has been diagnosed with Shingles. He is
  >about 70 years in age and other is in good health.  I
  >had been diagnosed about 2 years ago. I apparently caught
  >mine early enough (in a preliminary rash stage) and
  >medication minimized my pains and now have no signs of it.
  >Any other suggestions?

        There was a write up in "Discover" Magazine, August 1991 page
48-52 "Some Like It Hot; The substance that sets your mouth on fire each
time you bite into a chili pepper can also put out the flames of pain.",
by Richard McCourt.

        "When you stop to think about it, it's really quite odd that a
substance that can hurt so  much can be so enjoyable when you put it in
your mouth.  Stranger yet, the same chemical that is so burningly tasty
on the tongue and stinging in the eye may also be capable of putting out
the flames of pain in hitherto difficult-to-treat conditions - from the
distressing complications of shingles to the foot pain of diabetes to
the misery of arthritis.

        "So far, more than 150,000 people in this country have rubbed
creams of chemically purified capsaicin on their bodies as a way of
relieving chronic, debilitating pain.  The creams, are called Zostrix
[0.025 percent capsaicin] and Axasin [0.075 percent.  Both are marketed
by GenDerm, a Chicago pharmaceutical company.], are rather simple
concoctions: a fluffy, whitish capsaicin powder extracted from a
mixture of potent peppers is added to an emulsion of oil and water that
disappears when rubbed in like vanishing cream.  The tricky part, says
Lloyd Matheson a pharmaceutical chemist at the University of Iowa who
originally developed the creams, is handling the fly away capsaicin
powder.

        "Zostrix was introduced in 1987 to treat the severe burning pain
of post therpetic neuralgia, a complication of shingles."

        This hot pepper extract is also carried by, don't fall out of
your chair, Bicycle Shops!  It probably is NOT chemically purified in
this state.  It is sold under the brand name "HALT" you spray it in dogs
eyes when they start chasing you down the road.  It cost about $4 for a
1.5 Oz can at a strength of 0.35%.  Mix it with vanishing cream and you
end up with basically the same stuff you get from the drug store.

                                !!!!
        DO NOT GET THIS STUFF IN YOUR EYES, IT WON'T HURT YOU, BUT YOU
WISH YOU WERE DEAD TILL YOU GET IT CRIED OUT!!!!
                                !!!!