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XIII.—The Evolution of Continents: A Possible Reconciliation of Conflicting Evidence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2012

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Extract

In a letter to Nature published in 1881, J. D. Dana recapitulated his reasons for suggesting, first in 1846 and on frequent occasions afterwards, that “the continents have always been continents … and have never changed places with the oceans.” This view of the permanency of continents and oceans became generally adopted by Sir Charles Lyell (1868) and other leading naturalists during the middle of the last century: it became recognised as what might be called the orthodox doctrine.

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Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1942

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