That a Solution of Silver does Dye Hair of a Black Colour, is a Known Experiment, which some persons more Curious than Dextrous, have so Unluckily made upon themselves as to make their Friends very Merry. And I remember that the other day, I made my self some Sport by an Improvement of this Observation, for having dissolv'd some Pure Silver in _Aqua Fortis_, and Evaporated the _Menstruum ad siccitatem_, as they speak, I caus'd a Quantity of fair Water to be pour'd upon the _Calx_ two or three several times, and to be at each Evaporated, till the _Calx_ was very Drye, and all the Greenish Blewness that is wont to appear in Common Crystals of Silver, was quite carry'd away. Then I made those I meant to Deceive, Moisten some part of their Skin with their own Spittle, and slightly Rub the moistned parts with a little of this Prepar'd Silver, Whereupon they Admir'd to see, that a Snow-white Body laid upon the White Skin should presently produce a deep Blackness, as if the stains had been made with Ink, especially considering that this Blackness could not, like that produc'd by ordinary Ink, be readily Wash'd off, but requir'd many Hours, and part of it some dayes to its Obliteration. And with the same White _Calx_ and a little Fair Water we likewise Stain'd the White Hafts of Knives, with a lasting Black in those parts where the _Calx_ was Plentifully enough laid on, for where it was laid on but very Thinly, the Stain was not quite of so Deep a Colour. _EXPERIMENT XI_ The Cause of the Blackness of those many Nations, which by one common Name we are wont to call _Negroes_, has been long since Disputed of by Learned Men, who possibly had not done amiss, if they had also taken into Consideration, why some whole races of other Animals besides Men, as Foxes and Hares, are Distinguish'd by a Blackness not familiar to the Generality of Animals of the same Species; The General Opinion (to be mention'd a little lower) has been rejected even by some of the Antient Geographers, and among our Moderns _Ortelius_ and divers other Learned Men have Question'd it. But this is no place to mention what thoughts I have had to and fro about these Matters: Only as I shall freely Acknowledge, that to me the inquiry seems more Abstruse than it does to many others, and that because consulting with Authors, and with Books of Voyages, and with Travellers, to satisfie my self in matters of Fact, I have met with some things among them, which seem not to agree very well with the Notions of the most Classick Authors concerning these things; for it being my Present Work to deliver rather matters Historical than Theorys, I shall Annex Some few of my Collections, instead of a Solemn Disputation. It is commonly presum'd that the Heat of the Climate wherein they live, is the reason, why so many Inhabitants of the Scorching Regions of _Africa_ are Black; and there is this familiar Observation to Countenance this Conjecture, That we