29 



general! After this it will hardly be necessary to say that the girl- 

 students were not in his good graces. His lectures were always opened 

 with "Gentlemen and Ladies!" 



Clearly he was never en rapport with young people - - such as his 

 students - - whilst on their part the majority of the students regarded 

 him as the most crusted example of a "professor" that could possibly 

 be conceived. 



It is not doubtful that this situation was chiefly due to the fact 

 that BEIJERINCK belonged to those persons who seek and love solitari- 

 ness, needing it to think out their thoughts, and to assimilate their 

 impressions and experiences. He needed solitude also because he had 

 to interchange periods of great physical and mental stress with 

 moments of rest and restriction of mental activity. 



In the beginning of his career as a professor BEIJERINCK apparently 

 did not suffer at all from this lack of human contact. Every impres- 

 sion awoke in him so many recollections of earlier experiences, and 

 stirred him up to so numerous critical reflections that any feelings of 

 loneliness were soon repelled. 



This may also suggest an explanation why BEIJERINCK so rarely 

 kept himself between bounds in his intercourse with collaborators and 

 students. 



Even if he had a personal appreciation for the man in question, he 

 often sallied out in a way which was not at all justified. In these earlier 

 years he placed no value on friendly relations with his collaborators, 

 and he was quite content for their feelings to be restricted to nothing 

 warmer than admiration and astonishment. 



A factor in the formation of this detached attitude w^as possibly 

 BEIJERINCK'S gradual perception - -based on unfortunate experiences 



- that contact with other persons might give rise to conflict. For the 

 sake of peace, therefore, he sought only to be in contact with people 

 possessing an unrestricted admiration for him, or with those who had 

 unfailing patience and the power to forgive and to forget. 



With increasing age BEIJERINCK lost something of his egotism. A 

 disclosure from Miss BEIJERINCK'S diary illuminates the man as he 

 was in later years. The various disagreements BEIJERINCK had with 

 his assistants, the small size of his classes, and the lack of warmth 

 displayed towards him by the students who did come, all this worried 

 BEIJERINCK far more than anybody could have thought. Deep down 

 in his heart he needed sympathy and kindness, and he did not receive 

 either, because hardly anybody suspected him of needing it. To the 

 outer world he was the fossilized scholar, a stranger to human 

 feelings. 



Yet, it should not be concluded from this that he was not apprecia- 

 ted. Once his peculiarities were forgotten, irritation gave way to 

 reverence. BEIJERINCK was like a mighty building. Wandering 

 through its unfamiliar courts and archways, a visitor might sometimes 



