Selected examples of the contemporary reaction to Wegener's theory and Wegener's position towards it.
"Wegener himself does not assist the reader to form an impartial judgement. Whatever his attitude may have been originally, in his book he is not seeking the truth; he is advocating a cause, and is blind to every fact and argument that tells against it. Much of his evidence is superficial. Nevertheless he is a skilful advocate and presents an interesting case."
Lake, P. (1922) Wegener's displacement theory. Geological magazine 59, 338 - 346.
[Wegener's method] "in my opinion is not scientific, but takes the familiar course of an initial idea, a selective search through the literature for corroborating evidence, ignoring most of the facts that are opposed to the idea, and ending in a state of auto-intoxication in which the subjective idea comes to be considered as an objective fact."
Berry, E. W., quoted from Hallam, A. (1973) A revolution in the Earth sciences. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
"There have been many attempts to deduce the characteristics of the earth from a hypothesis: but they have all failed. ... This is another of the same type. Science has developed by painstaking comparison of observations and, through close induction, by taking one short step backward to their cause; not by first guessing at the cause and then deducing the phenomena."
Reid, H. F. (1922) Drift of the earth's crust and displacement of the pole. The Geographical Review 22, 672 - 674.
"Wegener's hypothesis in general is of the foot-loose type, in that it takes considerable liberty with our globe, and is less bound by restrictions or tied down by awkward, ugly facts than most of its rival theories. Its appeal seems to lie in the fact that it plays a game in which there are few restrictive rules and no sharply drawn code of conduct."
Chamberlin, R. T., quoted from Hallam, A. (1973) A revolution in the Earth sciences. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
In the 4th revised edition of Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane (The Origin of Continents and Oceans) Wegener states that "the Newton of drift theory has not yet appeared. His absence need cause no anxiety; the theory is still young ..." In a letter to his father-in-law Wegener wrote:
"Professor P.'s letter is typical! He will not allow himself to be taught. Those people who insist in treating only with the facts and want nothing to do with hypothesis, themselves are utilizing a false hypothesis without appreciating it! ... there is nothing in his letter about the struggle to get to the bottom of things, but only about the pleasure of exposing the limitations of other men."
Jordin, R., (2004) Alfred Wegener vs. just about everybody else: how the continents formed (1912 - 1960s). Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Florida Atlantic University, http://courses.science.fau.edu/~rjordan/phy1931/WEGENER/wegener.htm (accessed 22 August 2004).