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Index
Cover
The Rejection of CONTINENTAL DRIFT
Copyright
Dedication
PREFACE
CONTENTS
Epigraph
INTRODUCTION - The Instability of Scientific Truth
The Problem of Continental Drift
I - NOT THE MECHANISM
1- Two Visions of the Earth
Tectonics in the Nineteenth Century
Suess's Collapsing Earth
The European Tradition of Secular Cooling
Dana's Stable Continents and Permanent Oceans
Permanent Oceans and the Geosyndinal Theory
Two Continents, Two (or More) Theories
2- The Collapse of Thermal Contraction
Horizontal—Not Vertical—Displacement in the Swiss Alps
The Idea of Isostasy
Isostasy as a Theory of the Earth: Osmond Fisher
Isostasy as a Theory of the Earth: Clarence Dutton
Isostasy in America: C. K. Gilbert
A Fact or a Theory?
Elevating Theory into Fact
Isostasy from the Figure of the Earth
From Triangulation to Gravity
Isostasy Refutes Collapsing Continents
The Discovery of Radiogenic Heat
Epistemological Affinities
3- To Reconcile Historical Geology with Isostasy: The Theory of Continental Drift
The Evidence of Drift
The Consequences of Drift
The Rejection of Drift: Lack of a Causal Mechanism?
Dynamics versus Kinematics
Fathoming the Interior of the Earth
Isostatic Undertow in a Plastic Substrate
A Consensus Emerges: A Mobile Substrate
How Wide a Consensus?
Empirical Proof: The Fennoscandian Uplift
If Isostasy, Then Why Not Drift?
A Plausible Kinematic Account
4- Drift Mechanisms in the 1920s
How Large a Force Is Needed to Move Continents?
Gravity Sliding: The Work of Reginald Daly
Speculating on Causes
An American among Drifters
A Mechanism for Drift
Answering the Objections to Drift
Periodic Fusion: The Work of John Joly
Radioactivity as a Vera Causa of Tectonics
From Cyclicity to Continental Drift
Reaction and Retreat
Sub-Crustal Convection Currents: The Work of Arthur Holmes
From the Age of the Earth to Continental Drift
A Plausible Mechanism
Not for Lack of a Mechanism
II - THEORY AND METHOD
5- From Fact to Theory
The British Response to Drift: Cautious Entertainment
The American Response to Drift: Rejection
Were American Earth Scientists Opposed to Theory?
Theory and Practice in American Earth Science
Patrons and Practice
An Antiauthoritarian Logic of Discovery
Theoretical Pluralism: The Ideal of Multiple Working Hypotheses
Training the Next Generation
A Methodological Ideal and a Rhetorical Reality
An Inductive Logic of justification . . .
. . . and a Form of Scientific Practice
Good Science Is Hard Work
A Violation of Standards
Defending American Pluralism
6- The "Short Step Backward"
A Test of Continental Drift
A Geological Comparison of South America and South Africa
Another Step Backward: William Bowie Adheres to Isostasy
From Calculational Strategy to a Theory of the Earth
Representation as Reified Belief
7- Uniformitarianism and Unity
Grappling with Gondwana
Isostasy Reexamined: The Work of Joseph Barrell
Fragmenting the Continents
"Gondwana Is a Fact, but I Still Have Finally to Get Rid of It"
"I Want to Give Up the Theory"
Preserving the Practice of Uniformitarianism
Laws and Rules
A Uniformitarian Solution
Gondwana Dwindles Away
III - A REVOLUTION IN ACCEPTANCE
8- Direct and Indirect Evidence
Looking for Proof
The Worldwide Longitude Operation: Direct Evidence of Drift
USS S-21 Expedition: Gravity as a Surrogate for Crustal Motions
Results of the S-21 Expedition: Airy Isostasy After All?
Rethinking Isostasy
From Gravity Anomalies to Tectogenes
Experimental Support
A New Global Synthesis?
9- An Evidentiary and Epistemic Shift
From Gravity to Magnetism
Convection Revisited: Seafloor Spreading
The Confirmation of Seafloor Spreading
Two Types of Evidence
Evidential Asymmetries and Underdetermination
Evidentiary and Epistemic Traditions
Searching for Certainty Through Measurement
From Theory to Fact?
10- The Depersonalization of Geology
From the Field to the Laboratory
The Discountenance of du Toit
Quantifying Quality
Objectivity and Distance
A Culture of Distance?
Induction and Deduction
The Self-Validating Power of Success
To What End?
Novel Data for Novel Theories?
Epilogue - Utility and Truth
The Unmaking of Scientific Knowledge
Historicity and Self-Ratification
NOTES
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Epilogue
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Archival Sources
List of Abbreviations
Published Sources
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