{"id":194,"date":"2019-03-03T22:55:31","date_gmt":"2019-03-03T22:55:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.afterdarkclub.com\/blogafterdarkclub\/?p=194"},"modified":"2019-03-04T00:28:17","modified_gmt":"2019-03-04T00:28:17","slug":"the-man-who-tried-to-weigh-the-soul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.afterdarkclub.com\/blogafterdarkclub\/uncategorized\/the-man-who-tried-to-weigh-the-soul\/","title":{"rendered":"The Man Who Tried To Weigh The Soul"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In\n1907, a Massachusetts doctor named Duncan MacDougall performed an unusual\nseries of experiments. Intrigued by the idea that the human soul had mass, and\ncould therefore be weighed, Dr. MacDougall put together a bed fitted with a\nsensitive set of beam scales, and convinced a series of terminally ill patients\nto lie on it during the final moments of their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MacDougall\nwas nothing if not detail-oriented: He did was identify six patients at different nursing homes\nwhose death was inevitable. While choosing these six patients, he made\nsure that he chooses the ones who suffered from physical exhaustion, so they\nwould remain still during the experiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Out of the\nsix chosen ones, four suffered from tuberculosis, one from diabetes and another\none whose condition was unknown. Five were men and one was a woman. The\nbeds of these six patients were placed on a huge scale to accurately measure\ntheir weight when they were alive and when they were dead. This scale was\nsensitive with two-tenths of an ounce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When they all died, one patient lost 21.3gms of weight at the time of death. Others, too lost weight but one put it back on and one lost even more weight after a while. MacDougall disregarded the findings of all the other patients on the grounds that there was an error in adjusting the scales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A Year\nin the Spotlight<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results of MacDougall\u2019s study appeared in The New York Times<\/em> in March 1907. The article set off a debate between MacDougall and the physician Augustus P. Clarke, who \u201chad a field day\u201d with MacDougall\u2019s minuscule measurement techniques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clarke\npointed out that at the moment of death, the lungs stop cooling the blood,\ncausing the body\u2019s temperature to rise slightly, which makes the skin sweat \u2014\naccounting for Dr. MacDougall\u2019s missing 21 grams. MacDougall fired back in the\nnext issue, arguing that circulation ceases at the moment of death, so the skin\nwouldn\u2019t be heated by the rise in temperature. The debate ran all the way to\nthe end of 1907, picking up supporters on both sides along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For\nfour years, all was quiet on the MacDougall front, but in 1911 he graced The\nNew York Time\u2019s front page with an announcement that he\u2019d upped the ante. This time,\nhe wouldn\u2019t be weighing the human soul \u2014 he\u2019d be photographing it at the moment\nit left the body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although he expressed concern that \u201cthe soul substance might become [too] agitated\u201d to be photographed at the moment of death, he did manage to perform a dozen experiments in which he photographed \u201ca light resembling that of the interstellar ether\u201d in or around patients\u2019 skulls at the moments they died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MacDougall\nhimself passed away into the interstellar ether in 1920, leaving behind a small\nband of ardent supporters, along with a far larger group of physicians who\nseemed incredulous that this farce had gone on so long. Members of the public\nsettled down on one side or the other, and the discussion fell off the radar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Except\nthat it never really did \u2014 at least not completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nLegacy of Oddity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

References to MacDougall\u2019s experiments continue to spring forth in pop culture every few years, from the Victorian era right up to today. The idea that the soul weighs 21 grams has appeared in novels, songs, and movies \u2014 it\u2019s even been the title of a film. Dan Brown described MacDougall\u2019s experiments in some detail in his adventure yarn The Lost Symbol<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mention\nthe soul-weighing experiments to a person who\u2019s into parapsychology, and you\u2019ll\nlikely hear a murmur of approval; after all, the idea of scientific proof for\nthe soul offers comfort in much the same way that tarot readings and hotline\nspiritualists do. Even among more skeptical folks, it\u2019s a topic that comes up\nnow and then in late-night discussions: \u201cWasn\u2019t there once a guy who tried to\nweigh the soul\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nexperiments\u2019 actual results, and their failure to achieve acceptance as\nscientific canon, are entirely beside the point. Science has gone one way, and\npop culture another. Functional neuroimaging has tied every conceivable\nfunction once associated with the soul to specific regions and structures of\nthe brain. Physics has mapped the linkages between subatomic particles so\nthoroughly that there\u2019s simply no space left for spiritual forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although\nMacDougall\u2019s findings were heavily ridiculed, the idea that the human soul had\nweight was popularized and became the subject of a motion picture titled \u201921\ngrams\u2019. The idea was also explored in other forms of broadcasting and\npublication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also\nsaid that MacDougall claimed that only humans had souls and animals did not. He\nrepeated the same experiment with dogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Famous\nwriter Dan Brown\u2019s novel, \u2018The Lost Symbol\u2019 contains a chapter on the same\nsubject, explaining some amazing experiments. Katherine Solomon who is one of\nthe protagonists in the film successfully weighs the human soul in the book.\nThe author writers, \u2018Our soul is a material substance which can exist outside\nthe body and can have weight.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was\nanother researcher named, Lyell Watson from the University Of New York who\nconducted a similar experiment to weigh the human soul and found out that the\nsubjects of his experiment became 2.5-6.5 grams lighter. Doctor of Science\nEugenyus Kugis from the Institute of Semiconductors of the Lithuania Academy of\nSciences in 2006, also achieved similar results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were\nother findings that a decrease in weight happened even during sleep. These findings\nwere arrived at by Swiss scientists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So does\nthe soul have weight? Yes. How much? Science still has to get there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re still profoundly ignorant today, as any honest scientist will tell you. Certain behaviors of quantum particles still baffle the brightest minds; and we\u2019re still a long way from understanding exactly how our brains do most of what they do. We keep looking for the dark matter that constitutes more than 80 percent of the universe\u2019s mass, but we haven\u2019t actually seen<\/em> a single atom of it or know where, exactly, it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MacDougall\u2019s\nwork resonated, and continues to resonate, not because of what he found (or failed\nto find) but because of what he suggested<\/em>. The simple idea behind\nthe experiments were appealing, and for many who followed the debate in The\nNew York Times<\/em>, that idea alone was enough to make MacDougall\u2019s work worthy\nof discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in 1907,\nas today, the real, testable, verifiable universe continually proves to be much\nstranger than anything parapsychology can dream up. How are photons both\nparticles and waves and yet somehow neither? How can there be so many planets\nin our galaxy, yet so few that harbor life \u2014 we think \u2014 as we know it? The\nuniverse is full of real unsolved mysteries, whose real answers are out there\nsomewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Statement from myself to you, the readers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for me, I have seen many \u201cghosts\u201d and strange things that have compelled me to create the site afterdarkclub.com and to blog about the subjects that I do. I do all this on my own time and with my own expenses to share the experiences. I enjoy hearing from the readers of the blog or those who contact me through the email link on the afterdarkclub.com site. I completely understand that there is a energetic source that is inside of our physical bodies. As always, life proves stranger than fiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n