We regret to record the death of Oliver Wendell Holmes,
"which, though he was eighty-five, occurred on October 7th .suddenly and unexpectedly. He was not even ill, though troubled with asthma, when while talking to his son in his library he expired in his chair without a groan,—a happy death for all but the survivors. We have said enough of his literary work elsewhere ; and indeed speech is unnecessary, for who does not know " The Autocrat at the Breakfast-Table," the little volume so fall of kindly humorous wisdom and observation ? We may say here, however, that Dr. Holmes, though never thought of in England as a physician, was honoured in his profession, to which he had contributed many studies, all tinged with his main thought that, while materialism is not true, the dividing line between mental impulse and the impulse which comes from external conditions is nearly or quite undiscoverable.
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