Omnis cellula e cellula, "every cell from a cell," was dogma to the 19th century cellular physiologist and the cornerstone of Virchow's Cellular pathologie. "Spread out a cell into a layer and you will find that, in ceasing to be a cell, it has ceased to act as such," wrote the British 1 physiologist G . R. Lewes more than a century age. "The cell remains vital as long as its wall remains intact . . . " keeping its content "pure and clear" and thus preserving the "vital principle" within, echoed Claude 2 Bernard a few years later. The notion of the cell membrane as a pro tecting envelope held...