Transcription:
illegible Department of political Economy illegible Aug.8, 1905. Mr. John Muir, c/o The Outlook Co.. N.Y. My dear sir:-
Not having your address, I am trying to reach you through the Outlook from the pages of which I have recently been receiving
enjoyment by reading your articles on the Yosemite. When in California, and returning from the Yosemite, I stopped at the
place where you were then living, hoping to meet you; but you were then, I think, in Alaska, and I lost that pleasure. I remember
I left with you a letter of introduction from our mutual friend, Mr. Gifforci Pinchot. I am now writing, not in regard to
the Yosemite, but to ask if you might not be able to help me in an investigation I am now making as to the relative endurance
of flesh eaters and flesh abstainers, by supplying me with your own experience. I am told that on your expeditions you are
accustomed to live on hardtack and tea. May I ask whether, in your ordinary diet, you include flesh, and if so whether, in
changing from a flesh- to a fleshless diet and back again, you notice any difference in your endurance? I am trying to collect
quite an extended series of statistics by correspondence with persons using different dietaries, all over the world. The information
received from each individual will be used, without the name. The more definite the facts can be made, the more valuable they
are, as 03603