TWO FUNERAL ORATIONS 



On this occasion I wish to speak in the capacity of a friend - I may 

 even say an intimate friend - of the deceased. We were bound by a 

 friendship that, begun in September, 1905, when we first registered 

 as students in Delft, has now come to an end. 



When, after having spent some years in the tropics, Kluyver re- 

 turned to Delft to occupy Beijerinck's chair in 1921, that friendship 

 continued without interruption. Both of us were married; both of us 

 reared five children who also became mutual friends. Never has there 

 been a single note of discord; small wonder, then, that the friendship 

 was firm, and considered as something self-evident. 



Thus I have been in a position to observe Kluyver throughout the 

 35 years during which he developed into an ornament of the Technol- 

 ogical University and a scientist of international repute. It is the man 

 Kluyver whom I want to bring back to your memory in these mo- 

 ments. 



It is amply recognized that Kluyver gradually built up a school of 

 microbiologists. What is a school? It implies that a group belonging 

 to a younger generation conduct experiments and publish their 

 results under the guidance of a mentor, and that they all bear the 

 imprint of some fundamental idea of the master. 



How could the master do this? Firstly because his fertile mind could 

 initiate profound concepts; but also because he cooperated with his 

 assistants and students; because he knew how to inspire them with 

 ardour for their science. 



This, only a great man can do. One will never see a school develop 

 if the teacher does not possess great human qualities. Kluyver has 

 lived and toiled for his students. That was particularly evident when 

 they took their degree under him and were writing their theses. It 

 often happened that, despite pressure from his family, Kluyver did 

 not take - or postponed taking - a vacation because he stayed behind 

 to work with the pupil; occasionally he might take the student along. 

 And then Kluyver would concentrate on that work with his pupil for 

 entire weekends, and not infrequently have his pupils stay on as guests. 



And in this manner much was accomplished. Every publication was 

 permeated with the fundamental concepts of the master. And every 

 pupil departed with gratitude towards his teacher; every one had 

 gained much, not only in scientific knowledge, but also - some more, 

 others less - worldly wisdom which they could carry as valuable lug- 



159 



