Page:The origin of continents and oceans - Wegener, tr. Skerl - 1924.djvu/34

10 Tertiary time and brings them into connection with the great Tertiary systems of folding. As an example he comes to practically the same view as that of the displacement theory to explain the separation of Greenland from North America. It is true that in the case of the Atlantic Ocean he assumes that only a portion of its width is due to the dragging away of the American block, whilst the remainder has been submerged and forms the elevation in the floor of the Middle Atlantic. Like Kreichgauer, Taylor sees in the drift of the land from the poles the guiding principle in the disposition of the great mountain ranges, whilst the displacement of continents plays but a minor rôle and indeed is only briefly treated.

As already mentioned, I became acquainted with all these works only when the displacement theory in its main outline had already been worked out, and with many others considerably later still. The possibility is not ruled out that in the course of time still further works will be discovered which will be in accordance with the displacement theory or which will anticipate this or that point. On this subject a historical examination has not yet been instituted and is not intended in the present book.