200 FOUNDERS OF OCEANOGRAPHY 



continents, after separation from one another, to be floating 

 as lighter but more rigid bodies on the surface of the plastic 

 but heavier material which forms the bed of the oceans, 

 and to have slowly drifted apart into their present positions. 

 He points out the similarity in shape between the east coast 

 of North and South America and the western coasts of 

 Europe and Africa ; and, in short, appeals to many similar- 

 ities in shape, geological structure and other particulars 

 which enable him to fit the various land masses of the 

 globe together like the pieces of a dissected map or a puzzle 

 picture so as to make a coherent whole with geological 

 features, glaciation and distribution of organisms seen as 

 a continuous pattern, whereas they are now widely separated 

 on different continents. 



According to this view the Atlantic Ocean has been formed 

 gradually by America becoming detached from the common 

 land mass and drifting slowly to the west, leaving Europe 

 and Africa behind. There are many objections and diffi- 

 culties in detail which have been urged against this most 

 revolutionary theory, and the whole matter is at present a 

 subject of acute controversy. 



