* Astronomy

Daubree reported on many falls and particularly wrote many notes, published in the Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences, regarding the very special fall of the Orgueil meteorite (Fig. 11) (a very fitting name meaning 'pride') on 14 May 1864 (Daubree 1864c, 1866b). Many letters described the wonderful fireball that was visible above many SW French regions. It appeared 90 km above the ground and was seen from more than 600 km away. About 100 stones (Fig. 12) were recovered from this fall (Meunier 1909). Daubree described the appearance of the Orgueil meteorite (carbonaceous chondrite) as being similar to that of dull and earthy lignites. At that time only three stones of a similar type were known: Alais, which fell in Gard in the south of France on 16 March 1806; Cold Bokkeveld, which fell in Cape Province, South Africa, 13 October 1838, and was given to the MNHN collection in 1965; and Kaba, which fell in Hungary on 15 April 1857. Orgueil, however, contained much greater amounts of carbon than those meteorites (Cloetz 1864). A large 2 kg-piece exhibiting a black fusion crust with a varnished appearence showing rills and folds was given to the MNHN by Marechal Vaillant. Daubree described Orgueil as a remarkable meteorite, which, unlike many others, disaggregated in both water and alcohol, thus necessitating very special curation. Indeed, as surprising as it might be, Orgueil was even enclosed in ice boxes where each specimen was stored in dried air (Meunier 1893). Such factors meant it was very diffcult for it to be made available for study by other workers.
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