To which they answered, that it was a great dispute amongst the learned of their profession, whether it came by a division and composition of parts; that is, by expiration and inspiration; or whether it was caused by imitation: some experimental philosophers, said they, will make us believe, that by the help of their microscopes, they have observed the plague to be a body of little flies like atoms, which go out of one body into another, through the sensitive passages; but the most experienced and wisest of our society, have rejected this opinion as a ridiculous fancy, and do, for the most part, believe, that it is caused by an imitation of parts; so that the motions of some parts which are sound, do imitate the motions of those that are infected and that by this means, the plague becomes contagious, and spreading.

The Empress having hitherto spent her time in the examination of the Bird- Fish- Worm- and Ape-men, etc.