politics, becoming the “president” of a small county of Workum in 1782. In politics, he
supported the Orangist cause.1
Camper’s influence is perhaps most obviously reflected in van Marum’s choice of topic for
the research that formed the basis of the two dissertations with which he graduated from
university, in that he chose to investigate the movement of plant juices, adopting a
comparative approach in which he juxtaposed this with the circulation of fluids in animals.1
The original idea appears to have been to present all of his findings in one publication, but it
was then decided that they should be divided into two, so that the defence of the first of these
could be presided over by the stadtholder, the young Prince of Orange, because the head of
state happened to have scheduled a visit to the university. Van Marum later recalled how
deeply honoured he had been by the stadtholder’s presence, and this might go some way
towards explaining his latent Orangist sympathies later on in life - although here, too,
Camper’s opinions may well played a role. The second defence ceremony was held about two
weeks after the first, on August 21st 1773, and van Marum was now a qualified doctor.
Despite the glamour that accompanied his graduation, a bitter disappointment soon followed:
later on in life van Marum recalled how he had had high hopes of succeeding his mentor
Camper in his post at the university, and even claimed that as much has been promised to him
upon his first graduation ceremony.1 Instead, the post went to Wynoldus Munniks who 9 in
van Marum’s eyes probably adding insult to injury - had enrolled at the university in the same
year as van Marum did.
Deeply disappointed and offended, van Marum turned away from his studies in plant
physiology and botany, and turned instead to the improvement of electrostatic generators, his
curiosity apparently having been piqued through reading Joseph Priestley’s book on the
history of electricity. Van Marum subsequently succeeded in minimising the problems that
arose through the wear of an electrostatic generator’s friction pads by building a “machine
with gum-lac discs drawn through mercury” together with the instrument maker Gerhard
Kuyper, and published their results in 1776.17
By this time, he had started practicing medicine in Haarlem. The precise reasons for his
moving to Haarlem remain elusive. As far as finances were concerned, other towns appear to
have promised to yield more lucrative patients - at least van Marum claimed as much in a
letter to a friend some years later.18 But again, Camper may have had some influence on van
Marum’s decision to move to this town, in that he recommended him for membership of the
14 On Camper see: Robert Paul Willem Visser, The Zoological Work o f Petrus Camper (1722-1789)
(Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1985); J.K. van der Korst, Het rusteloze bestaan van dokter Petrus Camper (1722-1789)
(Houten: Bohn Stafleu van Loghum, 2008).
15 Lieburg, “Martinus van Marum en de geneeskunde,” 185.
16 Martinus van Marum, Catalogue des plantes, cultivées au printems 1810; dans le Jardin de M. van Marum à
Harlem (Haarlem, 1810), iii-iv.
17 Muntendam, “Dr. Martinus van Marum (1750-1837),” 13; Martinus van Marum, Verhandeling over het
electrizeeren: in welke de beschryving en afbeelding van ene nieuw uitgevondene electrizeer-machine, benevens
enige nieuwe proeven uitgedagt en in ’t werk gesteld door den auteur, en Mr. Gerhard Kuyper, physische-
instrument-maker te Groningen (Groningen: Yntema en Tieboel, 1776).
18 Muntendam, “Dr. Martinus van Marum (1750-1837),” 15.
Holland Society. The town’s new citizen was duly elected at the Society’s annual meeting on
May 2 1st 1776.
Just a few months later, van Marum was appointed town lecturer in natural philosophy by
Haarlem’s town council. He later claimed that his appointment had been prompted by a
number of requests from other citizens, asking him to give lectures on the newest
developments in natural philosophy.19 According to his own account, he was willing to
comply under the condition that he was officially appointed by the town - the post was
unsalaried, but came with a number of medieval-sounding privileges, such as a special seat in
Church (van Marum was a member of the Reformed Church), and unhindered passage of the
town fortifications. On June 2nd 1777, van Marum held his inaugural lecture, claiming it was
the first time he had ever spoken in public. Although he was surely trying to flatter his
audience - which appears to have consisted of town notables and other curious members of
Haarlem’s elite the published version of his inaugural also contains the only known
explanation van Marum ever gave as to why he had decided to settle in Haarlem, citing its
reputation as one of the bastions of Dutch science. As van Marum put it, it was above all the
fact that Haarlem was home to the first Learned Society of a national scope, the Holland
Society of Sciences, which had enticed him to settle in this town. Pointing out how, as he saw
it, the Society’s “main aim is to apply the knowledge of nature for the benefit of our country”,
he saw its establishment in Haarlem as “clear proof that Haarlem is particularly devoted to
this science”, and added that he was equally impressed how “several other special institutions
and societies, established for the exercise of reason, for the advancement of the sciences, and
for the advancement of the practical arts, are to be found here in this city more than elsewhere
in the Netherlands” 20
Because the history of the Holland Society and that of Teylers Museum soon became
entwined and remained so until well into the 20th century, a closer look at the Society’s early
history is called for. It had been created in 1752 through the merger of three smaller, local,
amateur societies, whose focus lay on the emerging experimental sciences.21 Soon after, the
Holland Society received a royal charter from the Prince of Orange, and was evidently taken
so seriously throughout the rest of the Dutch Republic that the University of Leiden — which
up until then had been the bastion of Dutch intellectual life and just a few decades earlier had
played host to such eminent researchers as Herman Boerhaave, Willem Jacob ‘s Gravesande,
and Pieter van Musschenbroek - insisted that the Holland Society was prohibited from
engaging in or facilitating any kind of educational activity. The Society accordingly restricted
itself to publishing academic treatises - most of which were the result of prize essay
competitions organised by the Society - alongside functioning as a platform for intellectual
19 Ibid., 16.
20 “voomaam doelwit is de natuurkennis ten nutte van ons Vaderland toe te paszen”; “sprekend bewys, dat
Haarlem deze wetenschap byzonderlyk is toegedaan”; “verscheide andere byzondere inrichtingen en
gezelschappen, die opzettelyk ter oeffening van ’t verstand, tot bevordering van wetenschappen, en ter
voortzetting van nuttige konsten, hier ter stede, meer dan elders in Nederland, gevonden worden” . Martinus van
Marum, Intree-rede over het nut der natuurkunde in 't algemeen, en voor de geneeskonst in 't byzonder
(Haarlem: J. Bosch, 1777), 46.
21 On the history o f the Holland Society see: Johan A. Bierens de Haan, De Hollandsche Maatschappij der
Wetenschappen, 1752-1952 (Haarlem: Tjeenk Willink & Zoon, 1970).