The Black Card of the 18th Century — hear me out

Chances are, you’re not like me: you cringe when someone says the word “chemistry.” Your memory of it vaguely harkens back to an undergrad class whose knowledge you flushed once you finished the final. That’s okay — my goal for this series is to change that paradigm, make it understandable to all, and provide some entertainment.

The American Express Centurion Card (aka “the Black Card”) is the mysterious status symbol of our time. If you’re a member, and you whip that bad boy out, it says something about you, whether you like it or not. Something very similar sprung up during the rise of chemistry in Britain both in terms of exclusivity and as a status symbol: membership to the Royal Society. However, before I dive into the details, I need to digress into a two-paragraph aside.

Even though I’m a red-blooded, red-white-and-blue flag waving, goofy-accented ‘Merikan, I’m well aware of the stigma that surrounds my countrymen and women. I’ve participated in international competition where other countries (the Netherlands) would root for our opponents (Belgium) even though they were about to compete against each other just because they hated us so much. Did my team do anything to dispel this notion that Merikah was so “hate-able” like have civil discourse with the other teams? No! We fomented it further by shouting “U-S-A” like the neckbeards that we are!

In the end, all the teams recognized that our tomfoolery was all in good fun and drank our faces off together at the competition’s…