Biology, meaning the science of all life, is a late notion.
Omnis cellula e cellula," he said again. "All cells come from cells. Every cell is born of a previous cell, which was born of a previous cell. Life comes from life. Life begets life begets life begets life begets life.
A cell is regarded as the true biological atom.
It was a reaction from the old idea of "protoplasm", a name which was a mere repository of ignorance.
For theories and schools, like microbes and corpuscles, devour one another and by their strife ensure the continuity of life.
According to the Law of Biogenesis, life arises only from preexisting life.
The cell never acts; it reacts.
Throughout history there have been many other examples, similar to that of Haeckel, Huxley and the cell, where a key piece of a particular scientific puzzle was beyond the understanding of the age.
An irrefutable proof that such single-celled primaeval animals really existed as the direct ancestors of Man, is furnished according to the fundamental law of biogeny by the fact that the human egg is nothing more than a simple cell.
