MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
179 
LABORATORY WORK AND ITS RELATION TO FIELD WORK. 
(ABSTRACT.) 
J. G. NEEDHAM. 
The adjustment of field work and laboratory work in any course in 
biology should proceed upon the assumption that these are complemental 
and not antagonistic. Their method does not differ necessarily, but only 
the conditions under which they are carried on. Either may be static or 
dynamic according to the purpose for which it is used. Both are 
necessary for the rounding out of most biological inquiries. Both are 
means, not ends, and should be used accordingly as they serve a peda¬ 
gogical purpose of the work in hand. 
The laboratory has certain great advantages for any work which may 
be carried on within it. Some of these arise out of our psychological 
and physical limitations. The laboratory has a roof and a floor and is 
usable in all weather. It has, walls which shut out distractions. It 
has tables and chairs whereon we may dispose our members and our 
implements; and it has conveniences for assembling around us, while 
we work, more apparatus and reagents than would be manageable 
otherwise. Furthermore, it has means of control of light and heat and 
other forces, useful in experimentation, which cannot be had outside its 
walls. 
These advantages are so great that we take our work into the labora¬ 
tory whenever possible. There are, however, certain phases of ecology, 
distribution studies and all studies of life in relation to environment 
in extenso, that may not be done within the laboratory, just as there 
are studies, like histology, which can make no progress apart from 
laboratory equipment. However, must biological, even most ecological 
studies, are furthered by the concurrent, and complemental use, of both 
field and laboratory methods; for each method will inevitably raise 
questions best answered by the other. 
Life in action is studied in the field; mechanisms and adjustments 
are worked out in the laboratory. In general, the field gives us our 
broad conceptions, the laboratory our nearer and clearer views. 
Lake Forest, Ills. 
