Biogenesis is the production of new living
organisms or
organelles. The law of biogenesis, attributed to
Louis Pasteur, is the observation that
living things come only from other living things, by
reproduction (e.g. a
spider lays eggs, which develop into spiders). That is, life does not arise from non-living material, which was the position held by
spontaneous generation. This is summarized in the phrase
Omne vivum ex vivo, Latin for
"all life [is] from life." A related statement is
Omnis cellula e cellula, "all cells [are] from cells;" this observation is one of the central statements of
cell theory.