However, in 1932, two scholars,  M. Nierenstein and P. F. Chapman, criticised this identification (which they named "the Maier-Ashmole hypothesis") under the grounds that, beyond the esoteric link drawn by Maier and Ashmole, very little contemporary evidence seemed to link Norton to the Ordinal.
The identification put forth by Maier and Ashmole was contested in 1932 by two researchers, M. Nierenstein and P. F. Chapman, who argued that the proposed link between Norton and the Ordinal rested on too little concrete evidence to be considered valid beyond a speculative esoteric connection.