610 Annals New York Academy of Sciences 



significant if one could find many objects with only narrow variations in their 

 morphology, since the same types of organisms should not vary widely in 

 morphology. 



George Claus {Department of Microbiology, New York University Medical 

 Center, New York, N.Y.): Claus stated that Type I of the "organized elements" 

 is by far the most common. Morphological variations, as well as size distribu- 

 tion of organisms, follow a Gausian distribution curve. "Organized elements" 

 follow the same pattern. 



F. W. Fitch (Department of Pathology, University of Chicago, Chicago, III.) : 

 According to Fitch, many different kinds of particles described in Orgueil me- 

 teorite preparations have been called "organized elements." In his opinion, 

 one deals with a heterogeneous population of objects which can be divided into 

 two general classes — particles having a simple appearance and particles having 

 highly structured morphology. The rather featureless objects are numerous 

 but seem to have no specific properties indicating biological origin. Particles 

 having complex morphology are quite rare and some may have a biological 

 origin. However, there is no proof that they are not terrestrial contaminants. 

 Fitch wondered what would be adequate criteria for identifying the "organized 

 elements" as extraterrestrial forms having biological origin. He did not be- 

 lieve that morphology alone was adequate evidence. There are at least 250,000 

 plant species on the earth. It is impossible for any individual to be familiar 

 with more than a fraction of these and to identify isolated plant fragments. 

 There were no experts specializing in the study of pollen and of fungi at this 

 meeting, according to Fitch; therefore evaluation of the objects at this meeting 

 must necessarily be incomplete. 



Bartholomew Nagy (Department of Chemistry, Ford ham University, New 

 York, N. Y.) : Nagy stated that because there were no experts on pollen at the 

 meeting, he and Claus took their microscopic preparations to a meeting they 

 attended during the previous week of the First International Congress of 

 Palynology at Tucson, Arizona. At this meeting there were approximately 

 300 experts on pollen from 22 different countries. The slides were exhibited in 

 public, and anyone who wished to examine them under the microscope could 

 do so. Approximately 80 specialists did so and to his knowledge, no one 

 definitely identified the "organized elements" as recent pollen contaminations. 

 Since, however, Anders et al. have argued that the "organized elements" 

 were ragweed pollen grains and starch grains, he thought it might be interesting 

 to recall Erdtman's comments on the "organized elements." Erdtman is a 

 Swedish pollen expert. His first impression was that the "organized elements" 

 were indeed pollens; however, after more careful examination, he concluded that 

 this was incorrect because they were similar to hystrichospheres, a pelagic form 

 of protobionta. 



H. C. Urey: Urey noted that enthusiastic people can make mistakes, but a 

 mistake should not stop anyone. If one cannot identify these objects, one 

 should consult others. Photographs of objects projected on the screen do not 

 settle the question. 



Rainer Berger (Lockheed California Company, Bjtrbank, Calif.) : Berger 

 agreed that undoubtedly more experimentation is needed. As Cholnoky 

 pointed out, biochemical tests could be inconclusive when applied to fossils. 



