ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 177 



polarized and not merely by ordinary light. The check-experiments 

 show with the greatest conclusiveness that the chondrites are entirely 

 composed of crystalline pieces, vax' nsly disposed, and that organic 

 structure is quite absent from them. 



" I then pass on to compare the structure found in the chondrites 

 with those of artificial products v/hich have been brought to the 

 knowledge of the Academy by MM. Daubree and Meunier. I prove, 

 by camera drawings, that various crystalline forms which may be seen 

 in meteorites were long since reproduced by M. Daubree, and that 

 the incrustations of enstatite made by M. Meunier exhibit under the 

 Microscope the same radiating and jointed arrangement as the so-called 

 organisms of Hahn. Finally, I demonstrate that the columnar for- 

 mation which is only revealed by the use of the polariscope and 

 by shaking, and which may be seen in certain chondrites, is also found 

 in rocks belonging to the globe under the same conditions. 



" The comparative method of study which I have adopted, aided by 

 drawings made from nature, leads me to the following conclusions: — 

 (1) The alleged organisms of meteorites (chondrites) have no existence ; 

 what have been described and figured as such are made up of crystalline 

 bodies, entirely inorganic. (2) None of these alleged organisms have 

 the microscopical structure which belongs to the real organisms with 

 which they have been associated ; in particular, the so-called sponges 

 do not exhibit the structure of the living or fossil sponges, nor the 

 corals the structure of zoophytes or Anthozoa, nor the Crinoids that of 

 the known forms of Crinoids. (3) The structure which has been 

 observed is either due to the presence of an opaque encrusting substance, 

 or is the result of optical illusions caused by an incomplete method 

 of microscopical examination. (4) The study of thin sections, 

 obtained by grinding, carried only up to a certain point, is insufficient 

 to elucidate the structure of the chrondrites. This method of investi- 

 gation must be controlled by observations made on sections reduced 

 to an extreme degree of thinness, as well as by the examination 

 of chondrites dissociated by acids and caustic potash. (5) The check- 

 experiments show conclusively that all the chondrites are composed 

 of transparent crystalline masses, grouped in different ways, but most 

 usually in the form of miniature columns or ramified tufts radiating 

 from a centre. The interstices, fracture-cavities, and gaps between 

 these masses are filled with an opaque incrusting material, a con- 

 siderable part of which resists the action of acids, and both simulates 

 septa and has definite shape and other peculiarities which are attributed 

 to organic structures. (6) The tufts which make up the chrondrites 

 are identical in their form and in the manner in which the crystalline 

 pieces composing them are arranged, with the tufts of artificial enstatite, 

 obtained by Meunier in his experiments ; just as the globular masses 

 of crystals formed during the same experiments, are analogous in their 

 manner of grouping to chondrites of ramifying and jointed structure. 

 (7) In certain finely striated chondrites, a rectilinear columnar arrange- 

 ment may be seen, identical with the structure of certain terrestrial 

 enstatites {Scliifferfels of Baste, in the Harz). (8) The greater number 

 of chondrites contain a quantity of groups of enstatite crystals, identical 



Ser. 2.— Vol. II. N 



