Letters to a Friend 



surely this must be all wrong, and, instead of 

 groping away backwards among the various 

 grades of grandfathers, he should explore the 

 most primary properties of man. Perhaps we 

 owe "the pleasurable emotions which fine 

 landscape makes in us" to a cause as radical as 

 that which makes a magnet pulse to the two 

 poles. I think that one of the properties of that 

 compound which we call man is that when ex 

 posed to the rays of mountain beauty it glows 

 with joy. I don't know who of all my ancestry 

 are to blame, but my attractions and repulsions 

 are badly balanced to-night and I will not try 

 to say any more, excepting farewell and love to 

 you all. 



JOHN MUIR. 



[1872 or 1873.] 



[Beginning of letter missing.] 

 although I was myself fully satisfied concern 

 ing the real nature of these ice-masses. I found 

 that my friends regarded my deductions and 

 statements with distrust, therefore I determined 

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