The Hypothesis of Continental Drift

Abstract

THE late Dr. A. Wegener claimed the advantage for his hypothesis of continental drift that it could be tested by making repeated astronomical observations of the positions of land stations; for drifts at the rates of only a few feet a year would suffice to carry the land masses far within the span of geological time. Few geologists would in respect to this problem deny the applicability of the dictum that the present is the key to the past; the question is whether precision determinations of position will give measurable results within a reasonable time.