I at once became convinced of its validity. I considered that the near congruence of the coasts of Africa and South America could not be due to chance but could be explained only by the breakup of a former single continent, despite the lack of any acceptable geophysical theory to account for the relative movement. One of the few of the world's leading geologists to accept the theory then was the eminent and able, if eccentric, E.B. Bailey, who published a number of papers in support of it, stressing in particular the continuity across the present Atlantic Ocean of a number of structures in northwestern Europe and eastern North America.
In 1931, at the height of an economic recession, and after two years as probationer geologist on the Geological Survey of Great Britain, I was told by the director, Sir John Flett, that my services were no longer required. I ...
