Imperial Valley press., 1925-01-01
IS AMERICA SLIPPING AWAY is THE
MONlENTOUS QUESTION SCIENTISTS FACE


can and European scientists are 60
ing to lot of trouble and expense
trying to decide "A question in which
they We always disagreed.
That is whether North and South
America actually are slipping over
the surface of the earth sliding far
ther and farther away from Europe
and Africa as time goes on.
They are, the Europeans say. And
so are Australia and Greenland and'
hundreds of less important little
lands,
They are not, the Americans con
tend.
SO to settle the argument the
scientists are getting together and
conducting one of the greatest sur
vervs ever made.
DR.. William NJ. Bowie, chief of
the United States Geodetic Survey
is in Madrid now attending an in
ternational scientific conference
that is making the final arrange
mcnts.
hadio TO be OSeu
The SURVEY is expected to start
within a month.
Major c. Z. Hodgson, acting geo.
detic survey chief during Bowie $
absence, believes the tests will he,
for the first time in history, vir-
tual!y 100 per cent accurate.
That is berause they will be con,
ducted by radio.
"Thc system, : he explains, ''is
to work from some point OF which
we know the exact longitude-that
is. the exact location in relation 20
the stars.
From this point time signals
are flashed to other points. BY
checking up these signals with the
stars at the receiving points, exact
calculations can be made.
=" Until now we have been fore
ed to signal by cable and wire
This has been :; barrier in the way
of perfect accuracy because of the
time il takes to transmit such sig
mails. Many points, too, cannot be
reached by wire.
" Now, by using radio, these draw
backs can be overcome. The test.
will enrircle the entire Globe.
Second Survey to Follow
''In \ few wears a second survey
will be made, and the two result
checked. lin this way it cam be de-
tcrmined whether the continents arc
changing their relative positions, rs
the Europeans believe, >
The theory of shifting continents
is known as the "displacement
theory, or the Wcgencr hypothc
sis Professor Arthur Wegcncr, di-
rector Of the German Oceanographi-
cal Survey, is its Leading exponent
The theory, in brief, is:
Continents are made Of compara-
lively Eight material, such as gncise
and granite.
Underneath them is a layer of
heavier material such as basalt, on
which they float ike an ice floe on
water.
This underlying layer also forms
the ocean bottoms.
Thousands of years ago in the
carboniferous period. to be exact
the continents were all together in
n single mass. Then this mass scpa
rated. Sections of it drift2d away
toward the west and toward the
cquartor.
The Atlantic Ocean rushed in to
fin tllc rift between Europc and
Africa on one side and the two
Americans on the other. Mountain
.Iangcs-likc the Andes and Rockies
were formed when the drifting
masses met resistance and bucklcd
up.
Groups of islands were dropped
off and left behind.
Bowie Says It's False
just what force caused this move
mcnt of masses is not definitely
known. Scientists think there is u
normal driving force away from the
poles, and this may have had some
thing to do with it..
Wegener holds, that at the time
of the separation, thcre may have
been other and greater forces, in
flucnced by Il movement Of the
poles.
Supporting his theory Wcscncr