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Francois-Vincent Raspail (January 25, 1794 - January 7, 1878) was a French chemist, naturalist, physiologist, and socialist politician. He was one of the founders of the cell theory in biology. He coined the phrase omnis cellula e cellula (every cell is derived from a [preexisting] cell) later attributed to Rudolf Karl Virchow. He was an early proponent of the use of the microscope in the study of plants. He was also an early advocate of the use of antisepsis and better sanitation and diet. After the revolution of 1830, Raspail became involved in politics. He was President of the Human Rights Society, and was imprisoned for that role. While in prison, he tended sick inmates, and studied their diseases. He became convinced of the value of camphor, which he believed worked by killing extremely small parasites, a version of the germ theory of disease. A member of the republican Carbonari society, he was imprisoned during Louis Philippe's reign. He was a candidate for the Presidency of the French Second Republic in December 1848, but came in fourth. He was involved in an attempted revolt and was again imprisoned as a result. In 1853, Napoleon III commuted his sentence of imprisonment to one of exile. He returned to France from exile in 1862. He died in 1878 a few weeks shy of his 84th birthday.
