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of Amsterdam would enhance the Laboratory’s status – besides, Willie himself
would surely have backed the idea. 38 But better not reveal that he had
proposed this idea himself, he added hastily, when his suggestion was taken
up. 39 Instead, the request should appear to come from Scholten personally
rather than from the board; not because of Krelage’s antipathy to the university
– a minor matter, apparently – but because his colleague Oudemans,
professor of plant taxonomy at the University of Amsterdam, had not been
consulted about the new Foundation. ‘I respect the reasons for this, but you
will understand that I am loath to sign this application, which impinges on his
own fi eld. If they assume that the idea is your own, it will not be offensive
to him, and I can strongly support it, but if it is signed by me, the effect on
him might be less pleasant.’ De Vries was still chairing the faculty at the time,
and in this capacity he would be in a position to make the appointment run
smoothly, but not if it were to leak out that he had been personally involved:
‘this would not be well received by my colleagues, in any case.’ 40
The plan was successful, and Amsterdam’s municipal executive decided to
appoint Ritzema Bos as extraordinary (that is, part-time) professor of plant
pathology – an unsalaried position, it should be added. Ritzema Bos accepted
the challenge. On 29 November 1895, having been ‘called to the offi ce of
Extraordinary Professor of a science that has never before been taught as
a separate subject at one of our institutions of higher education’, he offi cially
joined the academic staff of the University of Amsterdam. 41
A modest number of students and other interested parties took their seats
in the auditorium for this occasion, the Telegraaf daily newspaper reported the
next day. 42 Only one or two authorities, including the Queen’s Commissioner,
showed their faces. ‘A few ladies also came to hear the inaugural address’, the
reporter noted. But the professors turned out in force.
Under the stern gaze of the men clad in their black gowns seated in the
front few rows, Ritzema Bos took his place at the lectern. For three-quarters
of an hour he held forth on subjects ranging from fungi to beetles, from nematodes
to clubroots, from aphids to mosquitoes and butterfl ies. An aspiring
phytopathologist, he told his audience, was a farmer, scientist and physician
rolled into one: he was at home in chemistry, physics, zoology and botany – he
knew the main crops as if he had cultivated them himself – he knew the local
38 De Vries to Scholten, 27 June 1894, archives of the wcs.
39 De Vries to Scholten, 22 January 1895, archives of the wcs.
40 De Vries to Scholten, 11 March 1895, archives of the wcs.
41 J. Ritzema Bos, ‘De ziektenleer der planten en hare beteekenis voor de praktijk en voor de
beoefening der biologische wetenschappen’, Tijdschrift over Plantenziekten, 1895, p. 121.
42 De Telegraaf, 30 November 1895, iiav, archives of Westerdijk, no. 79.
44 phytopathology: a private or a public institute?