KLUYVER AS PROFESSOR; CHRONICLES OF THE LABORATORY 



but whose soberness harmonized poorly with the other part. It had 

 been intended as a temporary structure; but, like so many temporary 

 things, it was predestined to last for a long time ; it was not to be aban- 

 doned till after Kluyver's death. 



Already the laboratory had been changed from the domain of an 

 imposing scientific Olympian into the more adequate workshop of a 

 teacher whose repute as a man of charming courtesy gradually spread 

 among the Delft students. Nonetheless, it is a striking indication of 

 Kluyver's inspiring personality that it was not his individual attrac- 

 tiveness but the promising tenor of his inaugural address that brought 

 the first of his students - Van Niel - to the door of his study the day 

 after. This example was soon imitated. Thus, in the course of 1923, the 

 laboratory gradually became occupied ; at the end of the year some- 

 body was at work in every usable space, from the ground floor to the 

 attic. 



The inhabitants enjoyed the atmosphere of a laboratory where there 

 was no longer any pressure of a requisite number of experiments, in 

 anticipation of a final examination ; where there was no crowding for 

 space, as in other Delft laboratories; but where they entered into a 

 small community that gradually became closer, and where each found 

 work to do commensurate with his ambition and ability. 



Just the same, no matter how much this atmosphere of peace and 

 devotion was respected by all, the spark of inspiration was still lacking. 

 Subconsciously this was sensed in the laboratory where the reverbera- 

 tion of Beijerinck's discoveries could still be heard. But with his depar- 

 ture an era had definitively come to an end ; new, epoch-making finds 

 of the kind that Beijerinck had made, could scarcely be expected any 

 more. A few years later Kluyver himself was to formulate this situation 

 by saying that the discovery of a truly novel type of bacteria would 

 cause no less a sensation than that which the 'Loch-Ness monster' 

 threatened to do at that time. Yet it was obvious that a science as 

 young as microbiology stood only at the threshold of its development. 

 Would it be vouchsafed Delft to contribute as much to its expansion 

 as it had done to the foundations? Unquestionably this expectation 

 was alive in the laboratory, but for the time being the activities had 

 to be restricted to making a general survey of what had already been 

 accomplished. 



It may have been the unexpected crystals in a glucose-calcium car- 



