Q.New cells generate from

New cells generate from (c) pre-existing cells.

• Every cell arises only by the division of a cell that already exists; a cell can never appear from non-living matter or from nothing.
• This idea was first clearly explained by Rudolf Virchow and is summed up in the phrase Omnis cellula-e cellula — every cell from a cell.
• The other options are wrong: cells are not produced by bacterial fermentation, they do not form by the regeneration of old cells, and they never arise de novo from abiotic (non-living) materials.

One of the two central statements of the cell theory concerns the origin of cells, and this question is asking you to recall it. The early cell theory of Schleiden and Schwann described what living bodies are made of, but it left one question unanswered: where does a brand new cell actually come from?

That gap was closed by Rudolf Virchow, who was the first to explain that cells multiply by division and that each new cell arises from a cell that is already present. This is captured in the phrase Omnis cellula-e cellula. His contribution completed the cell theory, whose modern form states that all organisms are made of cells and the products of cells, and that all cells arise from pre-existing cells.

Looking at why the other choices fail:

• Bacterial fermentation is a chemical activity of certain cells, not a way of producing new cells.
• Regeneration of old cells is not how cells originate; a cell divides to give daughter cells rather than an old cell being renewed into a new one.
• Abiotic (non-living) materials cannot give rise to cells — the whole point of Virchow's insight is that cells never appear from non-living matter or from nothing.

Method: Recognising a Named Principle Behind a Plainly Worded Question

Short recall MCQs often hide a specific, named scientific principle behind ordinary-sounding phrasing. "New cells generate from" is really asking you to recall one particular historical contribution to the cell theory, so the first move is to recognise which principle is being tested rather than reasoning about cell biology from scratch.

The phrase to recall is Virchow's Omnis cellula-e cellula — every cell from a cell — which is the second half of the modern cell theory (the half that Schleiden and Schwann's original formulation didn't cover). Once you've placed the question in that context, option (c), pre-existing cells, follows directly as the textbook statement of that principle.

For the distractors, it helps to know the specific historical idea each one is quietly ruling out: "abiotic materials" is the spontaneous-generation / biogenesis idea that Virchow's work specifically overturned, while "bacterial fermentation" and "regeneration of old cells" are plausible-sounding but fabricated mechanisms that don't correspond to any real biological process for cell origin. Knowing the real history behind the correct option makes the wrong options easy to dismiss with confidence rather than by vague elimination.