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under review was not Wegener but a stand-in: the botanist Edgar Irmscher of the
University of Hamburg. Irmscher had the audacity to write that the “present distri-
bution and past history of plants can best be explained by the so-called Wegener
hypothesis of peripatetic continents and wandering poles.” Irmscher thus “displays
the same ignorance of geological history as does Wegener,” said Berry. He saw no
point in “wast[ing] space in an analysis of [Irmscher's] conclusions,” instead of-
fering his own: “The fundamental basis for useful scientific speculation is that it
shall explain observed facts, or at least that the speculator shall endeavor to sub-
stantiate his conclusions by facts of observation, not that facts of observation shall
be misrepresented to fit the demands of a subjective hypothesis.” 16
Let usnotethat these criticisms came during1922through1924.Wegener'sthe-
ory had barely descended the boat ramp and had yet to pass immigration and cus-
toms. But his American critics had been waiting on the dock, a scientific border
patrol ready to deny entry to Germanic pseudoscience.
Newman sums up the year 1924 as “a crusade against mobilism,” the term fre-
quently used as a synonym for continental drift. “There were seven considerations
of the subject; not one was favorable,” he wrote. 17 In the next two years, the the-
ory fared little better. The July 1925 issue of the Geographical Journal carried a
review of the third edition of Wegener's topic that was noteworthy for its invect-
ive. 18 The author signed himself “P. L.”: no doubt Phillip Lake again. He wrote,
It may be hoped that Dr. Wegener will never venture on a “system” of his own at Monte Carlo.
Dr. Wegener's exposition is entirely one-sided. He writes in the style of a barrister opening
a case, and obtains his effects by bringing forward all the evidence that he can find in favour
of his views and omitting all that tells against them. 19
Then came an event at which, so legend has it, orthodox geology slew contin-
ental drift.
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