ABSTRACT
The mechanical theory featured in some of the earliest scientific discussions of the mechanism of adhesion, published by McBain and Hopkins in 1925, and still finds a place in contemporary accounts of theories of adhesion. At different times during the intervening period, quite different assessments of its significance have been made. In this paper the development of the theory over this seventy year period and the reasons for its changes of fortune are discussed. Contemporary evidence for ‘mechanical adhesion’ is critically examined, and the meaning of the theory is assessed in the context of modern theory of adhesion.
