A meteorite of the type known as a carbonaceous chondrite, which fell in France on Mar. 15, 1806, and was later examined by Jöns Jakob Berzelius. In his published analysis of 1834, Berzelius claimed that, in addition to clay minerals, the meteorite contained complex carbon compounds which he had distilled from a specimen extracted with water. This announcement ushered in the study of organic substances that have originated beyond the Earth.
