Claus et al.: "Organized Elements" in Chondrites 599 



Nohic. Staplin (1962) was undecided about the Cretaceous identity of the 

 forms in cjuestion. It seems that these forms are not Cretaceous contaminants, 

 after all. 



Microbiological and micropaleontological examination of the soil and rock 

 outcrop samples revealed no forms that were morphologically identical to the 

 organized element in the Orgueil meteorite. The species of microorganisms 

 that had been identitied from the Orgueil soil samples are listed in table 2. 

 These samples still contained a considerable amount of their original water 

 content when they arrived at our laboratories, thus several forms could be 

 studied while still alive. The soil and rock samples were treated identically 

 to the meteorite samples, including the biological staining techniques. We 

 concluded that the organized elements in the Orgueil meteorite are not identical 

 with the organisms and microfossils that were collected on March 29, 1962, 

 by Henri Coustau, in the soils and rocks of the impact area. 



Another source of contamination may be the microorganisms in the air. 

 When a meteorite enters the earth's atmosphere it "breathes in" air because of 

 the reduced pressure in its interior. It is conceivable that some organisms 

 may be sucked in at such time (although the average pore size of the Orgueil 

 meteorite is estimated to be less than 1 /x). In order to gather some informa- 

 tion about this possibility, particles collected in the atmosphere have been ex- 

 amined. The airborne particle samples were received through the courtesy of 

 C. W. Phillips, U.S. Army Chemical Corps, Fort Detrick, Md. They were col- 

 lected on precleaned microscope slides at the elevation of the collection. It is 

 known (Proctor and Parker, 1942) that at the height of between 10 and 30,000 

 feet mainly bacteria exist. An examination of the slides revealed no organisms 

 that were morphologically identical to the organized elements in the carbon- 

 aceous meteorites. There are a number of reports in the literature (Hyde and 

 Adams, 1958) on airborne pollen grains and spores; and a few reports on algae in 

 the air (Schlichting, 1961). It seems that the organized elements of the meteor- 

 ites do not correspond to known airborne contaminants. 



Other possible sources of contaminations, such as chemicals used, including 

 the water, have been evaluated previously (Nagy et al., 1962). 



Finally, 2 samples of the Orgueil meteorite were recently obtained from the 

 Montauban Museum (through the courtesy of A. Cavaille). These samples 

 have been in Montauban, France, which is near Orgueil, continuously since 

 approximately 2 weeks after the fall of the meteorite. The samples were kept 

 under glass jars; however, they were not stored in a sterile environment. 



A microscopical examination of the Montauban samples revealed identical 

 organized elements (except type 5) to those from other museums. It is very 

 difhcult to believe that 6 samples of the Orgueil meteorite (from the American 

 Museum of Natural History in New York, the U.S. National Museum in 

 Washington, D.C., from the British Museum, from the Musee d'Histoire 

 Naturelle, Paris and the 2 from Montauban) would have been contaminated 

 by identical microorganisms in storage. The organized element that has been 

 claimed to be a ragweed pollen by Fitch and Anders, was also found to be pres- 

 ent in the Montauban sample. Ragweed (Ambrosia) is a native American 

 plant. It was introduced to Europe only in the early part of the twentieth 

 century and it is still not a common plant there (Soo, 1953). 



