42 



by animated talk over a dinner in the company of the two kind 

 sisters, who acted as hostesses. In the evening - - at any rate in sum- 

 mer - - master and guest went for another walk, deeply immersed, 

 not only in microbiology and botany, but in all the discussion of exact 

 sciences, for BEIJERINCK was profoundly interested in the progress of 

 chemistry, physics and astronomy. He would speak with ardour of 

 BOHR'S researches on the model of the atom, and would hold force on 

 the beauties of the works of the astronomers EDDINGTON and JEANS. 



Although scientific subjects greatly preponderated in the conversa- 

 tions, it should not be thought that BEIJERINCK never showed any 

 interest in other topics. In the rare moments that he did no longer feel 

 MINERVA'S severe look turned towards him, BEIJERINCK became a 

 good-natured and even kind-hearted man. 



With regard to literature, however, BEIJERINCK was almost in- 

 different. BEIJERINCK never ceased to take pleasure in the poems of 

 BYRON, but his pleasure was tinged with a curious sorrow after he 

 learnt that the poet had been unfaithful to his wife. For music BEIJE- 

 RINCK had no appreciation whatever; its execution he deemed to be 

 extremely fatiguing, and he thought it bad for the scientific achieve- 

 ments of the executants. Characteristic of this attitude was his con- 

 demnation of a colleague scientist : "Mr. so and so gets old, he visits 

 concerts.' He also maintained his aversion from historv: it was the 



J 



cause of feuds between nations, and the teaching of history in schools 

 should be prohibited! Theology was not in his good graces either. 

 BEIJERINCK could not reconcile the existence of human suffering and 

 misery in the world with the existence of a purposeful Powder above 

 Nature. Nature was to him the alpha and omega, and he had so 

 profound a veneration for it that it almost took the place of religion. 

 According to him, life was one with the atom, and ceased with the 

 death of the individual. 



The next day was again devoted to lengthy discussions, either 

 walking in the wood or in his grounds, or in the study, and by the 

 time \vhen the visitor came to leave, the conversational quiver of the 

 great scholar was empty, and the guest w r as tired in body, and limp in 

 mind. Yet the visitor was not dissatisfied, for it was always delightful 

 to hear BEIJERINCK talk; however strange his opinions might some- 

 times be, there was always something in them leading the hearer to an 

 astonishment which ultimately rose to admiration. 



Since BEIJERINCK had been so fortunate as to have such a splendid 

 working-place as the microbiological laboratory at Delft at his dispo- 

 sal, together with the support of a well-trained staff, it is not difficult 

 to understand that he constantly delayed putting into effect his 

 original plan to found a laboratory at Gorssel. Apart from some simple 

 bacteriological experiments, he never returned to regular micro- 

 biological researches, but devoted himself entirely to his first love, 

 botany. As was remarked before, the problem of phyllotaxis in con- 



