Full Idea
Among some of the lower organisms, it is a moot point with biologists whether there be anything which ought to be called death.
Gist of Idea
Is there any such thing as death among the lower organisms?
Source
Charles Sanders Peirce (The Doctrine of Necessity Examined [1892], p.334)
Book Reference
Peirce,Charles Sanders: 'Philosophical Writings of Peirce', ed/tr. Buchler,Justus [Dover 1940], p.334
A Reaction
The point, presumably, is that one phase of an organisms moves into another, and the 'individuals' are not distinct enough for their 'death' to be a significant transition. A nicely mind-expanding thought.