 The ideas underpinning somatic ecology originate in the early view of somatic cells behaving as social organisms forming stable associations (Reynolds 2018: 12–58). Assuming that such interactions serve the welfare of the organism, Virchow and other authors described a “cell state” (or a “cell republic)”, a metaphoric expression of what became a sociological model of cellular communication (Virchow 1858 [1863]; R. Wagner 1999; Reynolds 2018: 86–113). And pathologically, such a consortium becomes a “civil war” of competing cell lines. The model then led to a general Darwinian formulation of an internal struggle for existence throughout the life of an individual (Roux 1881; Metchnikoff 1901 [1905]; Tauber and Chernyak 1991; see Buss 1987; Queller and Strassmann 2009; Godfrey-Smith 2009 for the contemporary standing of this proposal of evolutionary change). Metchnikoff, a key advocate of this theory, assumed that cells operate on Darwinian principles similar to those governing the adaptation of organisms in changing environmental conditions. He thus introduced a common framework in which to understand dynamic biological communities—whether internal cell lines or organisms adjusting to their environment. This ecological orientation altered basic conceptions of immunity and identity by displacing static notions of individuality with dialectical constructs (Levins and Lewontin 1985; Tauber 2008).