(1) Mathematical Biology (2) Advances and Applications of Mathematical Biology

Abstract

(1)RARELY is a scientific text-book translated from French into English, and one feels that in translating this volume from the well-known “Collection Armand Colin”, Mr. Savory has issued a challenge to English biologists to make a better acquaintance with recent applications of mathematics to biology. This excellent translation is certainly of value in directing attention to a book which, according to Dr. Volterra, marks an important date in the progress of mathematical biology. The major part of the book deals with the problems of biological associations and the struggle for existence—problems which, with the help of simple and rather plausible assumptions, can be expressed as first order differential equations. The first ten chapters discuss the solution of these equations. They summarize the pioneer work of Lotka and Volterra on population growth and relations between species, including symbiosis and parasitism; and many of then: results are generalized and extended, while the author's critical discussions are always of value.

(1) Mathematical Biology

By V. A. Kostitzin. Translated from the French by Theodore H. Savory. Pp. 238. (London, Bombay and Sydney: George G. Harrap and Co., Ltd., 1939.) 7s. 6d. net.

(2) Advances and Applications of Mathematical Biology

By Nicolas Rashevsky. (University of Chicago Science Series.) Pp. xiii + 214. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press; London: Cambridge University Press, 1940.) 12s. net.