28 



if nothing had happened, went on to another student to lose himself 

 entirely in the latter's subject. And every student could be quite sure 

 that at a following visit the professor would inquire into the progress 

 made, and would not hide his displeasure, should any one of the many 

 experiments recommended by him not have been made. Beijerinck 

 was not easy to deal with. He did not ask less of those who worked 

 with and for him than of himself. He would dash through the labor- 

 atory like a whirlwind, shutting all the windows on the way, with 

 never-failingaccuracyimmediately detecting any clandestine cigarette 

 smoke, and withering its originator with a look as if the cigarette were 

 a venomous insect ! And woe to him who during the daily conversati- 

 ons betrayed lack of care in studying his subject, or indulged in ex- 

 periments which were unimportant or did not apply to the subject in 

 hand! Such a "bungler" was only left the choice between an imme- 

 diate return to the right track or complete self-contempt ! But whoever 

 came to him with the fixed purpose of learning as much as possible 

 found an inexhaustible source of knowledge from which he might 

 drink, even to suffocation". 



Beijerinck was always ready to help his students by word and 

 deed, and a number of them owe to him a prosperous career. It has 

 happened that he stood up for a student who had incurred the dis- 

 pleasure of the other professors, and helped him on again. He was 

 very compliant to his former students, and assisted them as much as 

 possible in all cases, whenever they applied to him i). 



In spite of all this, Beijerinck was never popular as a professor. 

 We need not look f ar for the reason. He was that paradox, the perso- 

 nification of impersonal science. His whole personality had been ab- 

 sorbed in it. Other things practically did not exist for him. His life as 

 professor was that of a recluse, as in the preceding period, although it 

 has to be remarked that he was a very regular attendant at meetings 

 where duty called him, such as those of the Faculty. Social gatherings, 

 dinners, etc. were his abominations, to be avoided as much as possi- 

 ble. They always gave him a bad headache. 



It almost stands to reason that Beijerinck never got married. 

 Once he had a gréat disappointment. He did not always approve of 

 marriage in his collaborators either. Very characteristic in this respect 

 was his answer to the announcement of the marriage of one of his 

 assistants: "A man of science does not marry". Once Beijerinck 

 happened to witness a harmless flirtation between a boy and a girl 

 student in his laboratory. The explosion of anger which foliowed this 

 innocent event surpassed all rational limits. Such a behaviour he 

 considered to be a profanation of his laboratory, and of science in 



i) A typical illustration of Beijerinck's spontaneity and helpfulness is the fact 

 that, when in 1920 fire broke out in the house of his faithful amanuensis Kokee, Beij- 

 erinck offered him and his family hospitality in his laboratory, where they lived for 

 several months. 



