The Earth's Shifting Crust by Charles Hapgood - wire of information

APPENDIX
Letters from Albert Einstein and George Sarton
Mr. Charles Hapgood
2 Allerton Street
Provincetown, Mass.
Dear Sir:
A. Einstein
112 Mercer Street
Princeton, N. J.
November 24, 1952
I have read already some years ago in a popular article about the
idea that excentric masses of ice, accumulated near a pole, could pro-
duce from time to time considerable dislocations of the floating rigid
crust of the earth. I have never occupied myself with this problem but
my impression is that a careful study of this hypothesis is really desirable.
I think that our factual knowledge of the underlying facts is at present
not precise enough for a reliable answer based exclusively on
calculations. Knowledge of geological and paleontological facts may be
of decisive importance in the matter. In any case, it would not be justified
to discard the idea a priori as adventurous.
The question whether high pressure may not be able to produce
fusion of nuclei is also quite justified. It is not known to me if a quantitative
theory has been worked out by astrophysicists. The action of
pressure would not be a static effect as classical mechanics would suggest,
but a kinetic effect corresponding not to temperature but to degeneracy
of gases of high density. You should correspond about this
with an astrophysicist experienced in quantum theory, f.i. Dr. M.
Schwarzschild at the Princeton University Observatory.
Sincerely yours,
(Signed) A. Einstein