We left Ocean Grove the next day after I was with you, & are now all home again, safe & snug. I gave up the Ky. trip for the present, Gilder2 said next spring would do, so I expect to go next May, & see the season open down there.
I hope you are still mending, Walt. I am almost certain you eat loc.01152.002_large.jpg too heartily & make too much blood & fat; at least that you eat too hearty food. As I told you, I was profoundly impressed by a couple of articles in the "Fortnightly Review" by Sir Wm Thompson, on "Diet with relation to Age & Activity" He shows very convincingly that as our activities fail by the advance of age, we must cut down on our food. If not the engine makes too much steam, things become cloged & congested & the whole economy of the system deranged. loc.01152.003_large.jpg He says a little meat once a day is enough, & recommends the cereals & fruits. I think you make too much blood. This congested condition of your organs at times, shows it. Then you looked to me too fat; & fat at your age clogs, & hinders the circulation. I shall talk to my Dr about you when I see him again, but if I were you I would adopt such a diet as would make my blood as thin as possible, & so lessen the arterial strain This is common sense, loc.01152.004_large.jpg & I believe good science. In the best health, we grow lean. Sir Wm Thompson, says like a man training for the ring.3 I gained much flesh this summer, & am dull & spiritless this fall. As a consequence, I must work it off some way.
Drop me a card if you can how you are.
With much love, John Burroughs loc.01152.005_large.jpg see notes June 30 & July 1 1888 a good letter ☞ read again loc.01152.006_large.jpgCorrespondent:
The naturalist John Burroughs
(1837–1921) met Whitman on the streets of Washington, D.C., in 1864. After
returning to Brooklyn in 1864, Whitman commenced what was to become a decades-long
correspondence with Burroughs. Burroughs was magnetically drawn to Whitman.
However, the correspondence between the two men is, as Burroughs acknowledged,
curiously "matter-of-fact." Burroughs would write several books involving or
devoted to Whitman's work: Notes on Walt Whitman, as Poet and
Person (1867), Birds and Poets (1877), Whitman, A Study (1896), and Accepting
the Universe (1924). For more on Whitman's relationship with Burroughs,
see Carmine Sarracino, "Burroughs, John [1837–1921] and Ursula [1836–1917]," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and
Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998).