Empirical laws of survival and evolution: Their universality and implications

Presented analysis of human and fly life tables proves that with the specified accuracy their entire survival and mortality curves are uniquely determined by a single point (e.g., by the birth mortality q0), according to the law, which is universal for species as remote as humans and flies. Mortality at any age decreases with the birth mortality q0. According to life tables, in the narrow vicinity of a certain q0 value (which is the same for all animals of a given species, independent of their living conditions), the curves change very rapidly and nearly simultaneously for an entire population of different ages. The change is the largest in old age. Because probability to survive to the mean reproductive age quantifies biological fitness and evolution, its universal rapid change with q0 (which changes with living conditions) manifests a new kind of an evolutionary spurt of an entire population. Agreement between theoretical and life table data is explicitly seen in the figures. Analysis of the data on basic metabolism reduces it to the maximal mean lifespan (for animals from invertebrates to mammals), or to the maximal mean fission time (for bacteria), and universally scales them with the total number of body atoms only. Phenomenological origin of this unification and universality of metabolism, survival, and evolution is suggested. Their implications and challenges are discussed.

The constitution and laws of the Adelphoi Theologia, founded 1785, [1785-1847]

The volume includes manuscript versions of the constitution and laws from 1785, 1832, and amendments, as well as a list of members from the Class of 1786 through the Class of 1847.

The laws of Harvard College, 1767

Leather hardcover volume containing a draft of the 1767 College Laws with portions crossed out and edited. The volume appears to be a working copy and includes page references in the front of the volume and additional notes inserted between pages.

The laws of Harvard College, 1767

Handwritten copy of the 1767 College laws, lacking its original covers. The volume is identified as "original" and a note with five changes to the Laws is bound at the front of the volume. A note accompanies the item: "Mr. Wigglesworth compliments to the Librarian ~ Tutors to desire they would meet with the Professor at his House at 12 o Clock. Monday 11 o clock."

The laws of Harvard College, Part II, 1767

Handwritten soft-cover copy of the 1767 College laws labeled as "Part II" and consisting of chapters VI to X.

The Laws of Harvard College, 1767

Handwritten soft-cover copy of the 1767 College laws includes an ornately drawn title and was marked "Corrections, Additions, etc." The volume contains many emendations, some in the hand of Edward Wigglesworth.

The Laws of Harvard College, 1790

Bound pamphlet copy of the 1790 College laws printed by Samuel Hall, with annotations attributed to Christophe Ebeling. Handwritten inscription on cover: "For Professor Ebeling of Hamburgh from Joseph Willard President of Harvard College in Cambridge." A list of the "present executive officers of the College" for June 1794 is handwritten on the back inside cover, and the number of students in College are listed on the verso.

The Laws of Harvard College, 1790

Bound pamphlet copy of the 1790 College laws printed by Samuel Hall with penciled annotations. Some pages are unattached.

The Laws of Harvard College, 1790

Bound printed pamphlet copy of the 1790 College laws printed by Samuel Hall, with a handwritten table of contents on the back inside cover.

The Laws of Harvard College, 1790

Bound pamphlet copy of the 1790 College laws printed by Samuel Hall. The copy was originally intended as an admittatur and includes the signature of President Samuel Webber and the date September 24th, but does not have a student's name or year.

The Laws of Harvard College, 1798-1799

Bound copy of the 1798 College Laws printed by John & Thomas Fleet, in a modern hardcover binding. The copy is interleaved with unlined pages that include handwritten notes about the laws, often dated in late 1799. The annotations are attributed to a Latin tutor at the College.

The Laws of Harvard College, 1798

Bound copy of the 1798 College Laws printed by John & Thomas Fleet, in a modern hardcover binding and once owned by Eliphalet Pearson, the Harvard Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Languages from 1786 until 1806. The copy is interleaved with blank pages and includes occasional annotations in the margins.

The Laws of Harvard College, 1798

Bound copy of the 1798 College Laws printed by John & Thomas Fleet in modern cardboard binding. Inscribed "T. B. Gannett 1809" on the cover page.

The Summary of a Course of Experimental Philosophical Lectures, 1746-1747

Leather hardcover notebook containing a handwritten copy of John Winthrop's course of experimental and philosophical lectures presented between March 10, 1746 and June 16, 1746. The first one-hundred pages of the volume are divided into twenty chapters which were presented in thirty-three lectures. The chapters contain text and diagrams on mechanical powers, the lever, the pulley, the axis in peritrochio, the inclined plane, the wedge, the screw, compound engines, the laws of motion, gravity, attraction of cohesion, the power of repulsion, magnetism, fluids, electricity, opticks, and astronomy. There is a five-page addenda to the course summary added in 1747, and a sixty-page text titled "The Method of Astronomical calculations" containing thirteen problems related to calculating distances with a list of astronomical characters, and followed with charts related to the eclipse of Jupiter's satellites.

The summary of a course of experimental lectures in natural philosophy by Dr. John Winthrop (manuscript copy), 1772-1774

Notebook with a handwritten copy of lecture summaries for a physics course given by Harvard Professor John Winthrop. The notes were made by Timothy Foster in 1772 and 1773. The volume contains twenty-five lectures with some diagrams.