SPADEWORK • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Spadework

... communicated in these pages may raise a desire on the part of some of my readers to embark on similar work in reference to other animals; for, in so difficult a field of discovery it can only be after much independent spadework has been done that the "complete form" we are groping after will be laid bare. Up to the present it may be thought that little of really practical value has been proved, and to some this may suggest that the work is therefore superfluous. But, do we study astronomy for mere practical reasons? Does ...

— Lola - The Thought and Speech of Animals • Henny Kindermann