CHAPTER III 



ADOLESCENCE 



MARTINUS worked on quietly, and in 1869 he passed the final exa- 

 mination of the Hoogere Burgerschool (secondary school). Although 

 he was very much afraid of this examination, he did very well. The 

 distribution of the certificates took place in the "St. Janskerk" at 

 Haarlem. 



Meanwhile the state of affairs in the BEIJERINCK family had be- 

 come more difficult again. DERK BEIJERINCK had to retire because he 

 had reached the age limit. His pension was a very modest one, so tfre 

 family had to reduce expenses even more. Fortunately, relief came in 

 two w r ays. Frederik had become a cadastral surveyor, and suggested 

 that the family should come and live with him in den Briel, while 

 MARTINUS by the generous support of an uncle on the mother's side, 

 A. L. VAN SLOGTEREN, notary at Enkhuizen, was enabled to study 

 technology at the Delft Polytechnical School. At the time this course 

 of study took only three years, whereas University training took 

 twice as long. Although the decision can be understood from a finan- 

 cial point of view, yet it seemed at first sight regrettable, considering 

 MARTINUS' pronounced botanical inclinations, that he was not allowed 

 to take up his favourite subject straight away. Nevertheless, his later 

 career shows that these years of study at Delft yielded fruit. A mere 

 botanist would never have had the deep chemical insight into micro- 

 biological processes which the later professor had. A great part of the 

 publications from the Laboratory at Delft are, indeed, concerned with 

 subjects on the border-line between biology and chemistry. 



According to a personal communication by Professor BEIJERINCK 

 the practical training of technologists at the Polytechnical School in 

 the years 1869-1872, when he studied at Delft, was extremely poor. It 

 was very rarely that the professor of chemistry came into the labora- 

 tory ! It was usual among the undergraduates to work there for about 

 a week every six months. However, what is important is that BEIJE- 

 RINCK at that time formed a great friendship with J. H. VAN 'T HOFF, 

 the later Nobel-Prize laureate in chemistry, and who was then also 

 studying technology. They lived together at the Camaretten, and had 

 great trouble about their food, which was bad and expensive, so that 

 finally they put themselves on a ration of rice and beefsteak. In order 

 to satisfy their longing for experimentation BEIJERINCK and VAN 'T 

 HOFF made many chemical experiments in their rooms. Once they 



