630 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIV. No. 620. 



posium on field methods, presided over by Dr. 

 Clements. 



In opening the symposium. Dr. Clements 

 pointed out that the first decade of the organ- 

 ization coincided very closely with the period 

 in which the botanical laboratory reached its 

 greatest development. Consequently, in 1896, 

 when the first decennial was celebrated, it was 

 appropriate that the subject of the symposium 

 should be ' Laboratory Methods.' During the 

 second decade of its existence, it had fallen 

 to the lot of the seminar not only to take part 

 in, .but also in large part to guide, the de- 

 velopment of field work in ecology. For that 

 reason it was especially fitting that the sym- 

 posium on the occasion of the second decen- 

 nial should deal with field methods. 



Dr. Bessey spoke next upon * The Place of 

 Field Work in Botany.' He said in part: 



The simplest kind of field work, and on many 

 accounts the most productive and helpful, is that 

 observation of plants and their environment which 

 one makes when living much in the forests, the 

 prairies, the swamps, the fields and the gardens. 

 The man who lives ' in the open ' and learns of 

 plants and about plants while living with them, 

 obtains a mass of most valuable botanical knowl- 

 edge even though it may not be formulated in 

 botanical language. Many an unlearned Thoreau 

 knows much more about the habits of plants than 

 the laboratory botanist who is a stranger to the 

 wild plants in their native haunts. Then there 

 is the more serious field — study in which with book 

 or instrument the botanist tries to learn some- 

 thing accurately about plants as they grow out 

 of doors. Here he learns something as to their 

 classification in accordance with some general 

 system and by means of his instruments, he learns 

 something accurately as to the factors in the 

 plant's environment that have controlled its 

 growth and distribution. With such study, there 

 usually comes the practise of collecting plants 

 followed by the work of preserving, mounting and 

 arranging in systematic order in the herbarium. 

 This leads to closer and more accurate examina- 

 tion in the herbarium and the laboratory, and 

 especially with the smaller kinds to critical micro- 

 scopical study. Field work should underlie all 

 botanical study. It can not be omitted without 

 making the science one-sided. The student must 

 do much of his work in the fields, forests and 

 gardens if he is to make botany a science of 

 living plants. 



Dr. Barbour spoke upon ' Field Work in 

 Geology and Physiography,' He called atten- 

 tion to the relation of ecological and physio- 

 graphical work in the field from the point of 

 view of the geologist and the physiographer, 

 showing, among other things, how the result 

 of ecological investigation has enabled the 

 physiographer to reach better results by en- 

 abling him to trace more accurately the physio- 

 graphical conditions which he studies, by ref- 

 erence to the resulting effects upon vegetation. 



Dr. Pound spoke of the field work done in 

 the past by the seminar. He suggested that 

 field work as conducted by the seminar in the 

 past fell into three stages. In the first period, 

 from 1886 to 1892, it took the form of collec- 

 tion only. During that time the object was 

 simply to collect species and to make as many 

 additions as possible to the reported flora of 

 the state. In the second period, from 1892 

 to 1898, the object of field work was floristic. 

 During that time the foundations of phyto- 

 geographical work were laid, while the survey 

 herbarium was built up and collecting con- 

 tinued. The work was chiefly directed toward 

 determining the geographical distribution of 

 species in the state, the working out of floral 

 contrast between districts and regions, and 

 regional limitation. Toward the end of that 

 period, the method of study of abundance by 

 the quadrat was adopted. The third period, 

 from 1898 to the present, has been marked by 

 research work in ecology and the development 

 of improved research methods. 



Dr. Heald spoke of field work in pathology. 

 He said that, while formerly pathological in- 

 vestigation had been conducted almost wholly 

 in the laboratory, the tendency at the present 

 time was to go to the other extreme and to 

 work chiefly in the field. He pointed out the 

 necessary limitations upon each method of 

 work in pathology and the relations of the one 

 to the other. 



In closing, Dr. Clements suggested a pro- 

 phecy and a warning. As botany becomes 

 broader and surer in its progress, the relative 

 position of laboratory work and field work 

 will be changed. The field will take the first 

 place. The laboratory, though indispensable, 

 will become secondary in that its chief use 



