Stronger forms of the theorems proved by M. Bôcher, W.M. Whyburn and W.T. Reid concerning small variations rendering the differential systems incompatible are obtained essentially by imbedding two point boundary value problems, both finite and infinite dimensional, in eigenvalue problems having isolated eigenvalues. In particular, if the two point boundary value problem, y′ = A(x)y, Uy = 0, on [0,1], with suitable hypotheses imposed on A(x) and U, has k > 0 linearly independent solutions, then there exists a continuous matrix P(x) such that the eignevalues of the system y′ = A(x)Y = λP(x)y, Uy = 0, are isolated in the complex plane.