CHAPTER II 



CHILDHOOD 



Before proceeding to a description of Martinus' childhood, we 

 should say something about Derk Beijerinck and his family. From 

 private Communications we have learnt that Derk had a cheerful, 

 strong and brave nature. Like his father, Derk had artistic gifts which 

 are also apparent in his children. Martinus' sister Henriëtte, for in- 

 stance, made several drawings and pictures of plants and microbes, 

 which are still used for teaching purposes in the laboratories for Mi- 

 crobiology and for Botany at Delft. 



When five months old, Derk Beijerinck had the misfortune to 

 lose his mother, Elisabeth Reijnen (probably a daughter of a che- 

 mist at Nijmegen). 



If Derk's mother had remained ahve, her youngest son would no 

 doubt have got on better than he did. The second wife of Frederik 

 Beijerinck did not take to the children of his first marriage, and ne- 

 glected them. Martinus managed to overcome the difficulties en- 

 gendered by the home atmosphere, and became, as has alreadybeen 

 mentioned, professor at the Polytechnical School at Delft. When 

 still too young to decide his own vocation the intelligent and quick- 

 witted Derk was forced to go into business for which he was given no 

 training, and had no talents. In 1830 he volunteered, and went 

 through the campaign against Belgium. Af ter this he was given the 

 option of going to the Indies with the rank of second lieutenant, or of 

 remaining in the army in this country in a lower rank. Derk, however, 

 preferred to retire from the army, and received the volunteer's cross. 



From his mother's inheritance his father then bought for him a to- 

 bacco business at Amsterdam, viz., 81 Op het Water (Damrak), called 

 "Het Wapen van Oldenburg" ("The Óldenburg Arms"). On April 

 27th, 1843 he married Jeannette Henriëtte van Slogteren. 



Being conducted in defiance of sound principles, the business slowly 

 collapsed, in spite of all Derk's well-meaning efforts, and had to be 

 sold in 1853. The sale left him with only a small sum, since the money 

 brought by the mother had been sunk in buying the shop. 



Consequently it was into a family suffering from financial difficul- 

 ties that on the Sunday morning of March 16th, 1851 Martinus 

 Willem Beijerinck was born as the last of Derk's four children. 

 The others were Frederik, Henriëtte, and Johanna, then 6, 4, and 

 2 years old respectively. W^hen Martinus was two years old, the 



