Elements of Physical Biology

Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins Co., 1925. First edition.

SEMINAL MONOGRAPH PROPOSING A RIGOROUS APPROACH TO POPULATION ECOLOGY.

23 x 15 cm hardcover, blue cloth binding, gilt title to spine, bookplate of Robert L Chevalier MD to front paste-down, ink inscription to front free endpaper, "Jan B. Gillett from A. B. & M. C. G./ 28.11.1928/ aet.xvii," i-xxx, 460 pp, 72 figures, 36 tables (some folding). Cover corners worn, spine ends frayed, rear hinge cracked, light browning to pages. Very good minus in custom archival mylar cover.

GARRISON-MORTON No. 145.63. "In this landmark of theoretical population ecology Lotka attempted to provide for parts of biology a basis comparable to that given by theoretical physics to experimental physics. This was the first great exposition and elaboration of Verhulst's logistic.

ALFRED JAMES LOTKA (1880 - 1949) was an American mathematician, physical chemist, and statistician, famous for his work in population dynamics and energetics. The Lotka-Volterra model is still the basis of many models used in the analysis of population dynamics in ecology. Lotka proposed that natural selection was, at its root, a struggle among organisms for available energy; organisms that survive and prosper are those that capture and use energy at a rate and efficiency more effective than that of its competitors. Lotka extended his energetic framework to human society. In particular, he suggested that the shift in reliance from solar energy to nonrenewable energy would pose unique and fundamental challenges to society. These theories made Lotka an important forerunner to the development of biophysical economics and ecological economics, advanced by Frederick Soddy, Howard Odum and others. While at Johns Hopkins, Lotka completed his book Elements of Physical Biology (offered here) in which he extended the work of Pierre François Verhulst. His first book summarizes his previous work and organizes his ideas of unity and universality of physical laws, making his works accessible to other scientists.

PROVENANCE: JAN BEVINGTON GILLETT (1911-1995), English botanist at Kew, was a leading researcher in tropical African botany. He served as Botanist in Charge of the East African Herbarium, Nairobi, and made significant collections in Iraq as well as Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.