KLUYVER AS SEEN BY HIS PUPILS 



'He is great who is what he is from nature, and who never reminds us 

 of others. But he must be related to us, and our life receive from him 

 some promise of explanation. I cannot tell what I would know; but 

 I have observed there are persons who, in their character and actions, 

 answer questions which I have not skill to put.' 

 ( R. W. Emerson) 



To students at the Technological University in Delft the Laboratory 

 of Microbiology used to be known as a quaint old building at the 

 Nieuwelaan, bordering on the canal and adjoining the premises of the 

 student's Rowing Club ; and with most of them knowledge went no 

 further. To the chemistry students it was also one of the laboratories 

 where they might choose to spend their last year before graduating 

 with the Chemical Engineer's degree. The number of these latter who 

 elect microbiology as their field of specialization has always been rel- 

 atively small, however; students who are interested in things biolog- 

 ical are naturally more apt to enroll in other universities where biol- 

 ogy, instead of being merely an adjunct to the chemistry department, 

 has its own rightful place in the curriculum. 



The Delft students who have qualified as candidates for the Chem. 

 E. degree and enter the microbiological institute have had a rigorous 

 training in all branches of chemistry, in physics, and in mathematics; 

 but they have no more than a faint inkling of the properties of animate 

 matter. There can be no doubt that their choice has usually been in- 

 fluenced by a more or less conscious dissatisfaction with the inflex- 

 ibility of the behaviour of molecules on the one hand, and on the other 

 by the intriguing opportunity to study a new subject that will expose 

 them to the alluring mysteries of life itself. 



It is precisely to this frame of mind that the mentality of Kluyver 

 and the atmosphere of his institute were most receptive. Kluyver him- 

 self had probably passed through a similar development during his 

 studies at the Delft university; as a candidate for the Chem. E. degree 

 he had majored in microscopical anatomy, and later he had continued 



49 



