BIOGRAPHICAL MEMORANDA 



drawn from the discussion. Explicit advice or instructions were not 

 given, for Kluyver knew that such direct help does not exert a lasting 

 influence. He strongly felt that the initiative should come from the 

 student; that a solution found by one's own efforts is of immeasurably 

 greater value than one given by another person. The discussions with 

 the students were informal ; seated on one of the low stools Kluyver 

 examined their cultures with a small magnifying glass or under their 

 microscopes, patiently letting himself be informed about recent devel- 

 opments, putting in a question here and there to get a detail straight, 

 and asking for suggestions as if he were the pupil. The next morning 

 the student might find on his desk some reprints that Kluyver consid- 

 ered pertinent; but it happened more often that during the conver- 

 sation professor and student would migrate to the library where, as 

 the search for information went on, pyramids of books and journals 

 would soon accumulate on the tables. In the course of these explora- 

 tions, usually attended by one of the assistants, the facts and argu- 

 ments for and against certain interpretations were clearly developed, 

 and thereafter the student was left to his own devices. Kluyver always 

 groped for the essential aspects of a situation, and, like Beijerinck, in- 

 sisted that an experiment should be simple; simplicity was to him also 

 the best criterion of the merit of an interpretation or theory. Kluyver 

 never used his authority and great experience to drive his pupils in a 

 particular direction, though he tacitly assumed that, as rational beings, 

 they would set their further course by the outcome of these discussions. 

 He delighted in every spark of original thought or experiment. If the 

 students deviated from the approach he had hinted at, he made sure 

 that they were aware of the warning beacons, and then let them pro- 

 ceed at their own peril. Even in cases of extreme stubbornness his 

 exasperation was evident only in private conversations with his asso- 

 ciates, and he refused to interfere. 'We must have patience. Mr. X has 

 to work out his own salvation; we cannot hand it to him on a platter'. 

 The curriculum requirements included specified minimum periods 

 of laboratory work, satisfactorily completed. Kluyver did not like to 

 be the sole judge of what was 'satisfactory', and argued that the main 

 point at issue in determining whether the student had done enough 

 was the latter's own opinion; 'his soul had to be satisfied'. He saw no 

 point in keeping students any longer than they themselves considered 

 necessary ; those who wanted to stay on were, of course, always wel- 



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