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The journey of life in many ancient beliefs and religions is also the journey of the human soul.             Source: rolffimages / Adobe Stock

The Morbid Legacy Of The Doctor Who Tried To Weigh The Human Soul

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The fascinating legacy of the controversial American physician who weighed the human soul and determined dogs don’t have one is an incredible story. And, like in many areas of life, what one believes and one’s beliefs have a huge influence on outcomes. Speculating upon, and fighting over, the existence, functions and restrictions of the human soul, has perhaps altered history more than any other topic since the dawn of time. In ancient Greece Pythagoras believed that the human soul was of divine origin and existed before and after death, while in early forms of Hinduism “the atman” ( breath,” or “soul”) was the universal, eternal self. However, it wasn’t until 10 April 1901, in Dorchester, Massachusetts, that a physician believed so deeply in the existence of the human soul that he attempted to weigh it. This belief resulted in Dr. Duncan MacDougall's “21 Grams Theory.”

The Mystery Of The 21 Vanishing Grams

In most religious, mystical, philosophical and mythological systems the human soul was looked on as the essence of a living being. The soul, or “psyche,” formed a person’s thinking and perception of reality, therefore molding the character, feelings and consciousness of each and every individual human being.

In ancient beliefs, the human soul or psyche formed a person’s thinking and perception of reality, and also controlled our daily actions. (nuvolanevicata / Adobe Stock)

In ancient beliefs, the human soul or psyche formed a person’s thinking and perception of reality, and also controlled our daily actions. (nuvolanevicata / Adobe Stock)

The 21 grams experiment refers to a scientific study published in 1907 by Dr. Duncan MacDougall, a physician from Haverhill, Massachusetts. He weighed six dead bodies before and after death to determine any differences and the results were published in a 1907 edition of the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research. The results of this experiment, which was witnessed and qualified by four other medical doctors, were truly amazing.

According to the journal article, when Dr. MacDougall measured the weight of his first patient prior to his death “the beam end dropped with an audible stroke hitting against the lower limiting bar and remaining there with no rebound. The loss was ascertained to be three-fourths of an ounce.” Had this apparently mad scientist actually measured the human soul leaving the body?

The team of scientists were shocked when the second patient yielded the same results, and in a March 11, 1907 New York Times article the doctor was quoted as saying “The instant life ceased the opposite scale pan fell with a suddenness that was astonishing – as if something had been suddenly lifted from the body. Immediately all the usual deductions were made for physical loss of weight, and it was discovered that there was still a full ounce of weight unaccounted for.” And with the average weight loss of each person measuring at ¾ of an ounce, Dr. MacDougall concluded that a human soul weighed, on average, 21 grams (0.74 ounces).

The belief in the human soul is almost timeless, even if it has no weight at all. (Sergey Nivens / Adobe Stock)

The belief in the human soul is almost timeless, even if it has no weight at all. (Sergey Nivens / Adobe Stock)

How The American Soul Hunter’s Experiment Fell Apart

Seldom do teams of scientists press the go button on an experiment until every potential variable has been taken into account, and so was the case in 1907 when the researchers calculated estimates for how much air was trapped in a dead body’s lungs and how much bodily fluid each person held. However, the 21-gram disparity could not be explained, scientifically.

During the experiment things didn’t go according to plan and two sets of results (a third of the sample size) were disregarded after mechanical failure. While measuring the third patient, it was found that he maintained the same weight immediately upon death as before, then he lost about an ounce of weight a minute later. Dr. MacDougall believed this discrepancy occurred because the patient was “a phlegmatic man slow of thought and action,” and that his soul was suspended in the body for a minute after death.

Insisting that human souls weigh 21 grams, Dr. MacDougall repeated the same morbid experiment on 15 dogs. When the results showed no change in their before and after death-weights, Dr. MacDougall concluded that this was hard evidence that only humans had souls. To prove this, he turned his attention to developing photographic techniques, for it was his new goal to visually capture the soul leaving the human body upon death, an ambitious task that he ultimately failed to achieve before he passed away in 1920.

There’s No Room For Science In Beliefs

According to psychologist Bruce Hood in his 2009 book, Supersense: From Superstition to Religion – The Brain Science of Belief, “MacDougall's experiment has been rejected by the scientific community,” and he has been accused of “both flawed methods and outright fraud in obtaining his results.” Back in 1907, physician Augustus P. Clarke was the harshest critic of MacDougall’s theory, experiment, and results.

In the May issue of American Medicine he argued that upon death the lungs stop cooling the blood and this causes a sudden rise in body temperature, therefore sweating accounted for Dr. MacDougall s missing 21 grams. And furthermore, according to Richard Wiseman’s 2011 book, Paranormality: Why We see What Isn't There, Dr. Clarke also pointed out that dogs “don’t have sweat glands,” accounting for why the 15 dogs didn’t lose weight after death.

Dr. Duncan MacDougall believed the human soul could be measured, both in weight and leaving the body. He was wrong about the weight but soul’s leaving bodies is still a very common belief, worldwide. (Public domain)

Dr. Duncan MacDougall believed the human soul could be measured, both in weight and leaving the body. He was wrong about the weight but soul’s leaving bodies is still a very common belief, worldwide. (Public domain)

Bruce Hood also wrote that because the weight loss “was not reliable or replicable, MacDougall s findings were unscientific.” In 2003, a Snopes article said credence should “not be given to the idea” and leaned on the harsh fact that Dr. MacDougall likely “poisoned and killed fifteen healthy dogs in an attempt to support his research.”

Today, however, while no team of researchers would ever be permitted to conduct such an experiment, the idea of the soul has certainly not gone away. Modern beliefs directly oppose the beliefs of Dr. MacDougall, claiming dogs do indeed have souls. According to a Boston Terrier Network article “once a dog bonds to a human, its soul attaches to the human's soul and upon death, goes where the human soul goes, but dogs don’t have an immortal soul in the same sense as a human does.” And expanding on this belief, Catholic.com say “Animal and vegetable souls are dependent entirely on matter for their operation and being. They cease to exist at death.

So, there were have it folks, the answer to life’s deepest questions about the soul are out there, but only if you believe . . .

Top image: The journey of life in many ancient beliefs and religions is also the journey of the human soul.             Source: rolffimages / Adobe Stock

By Ashley Cowie

 

Comments

T1bbst3r's picture

Well, I predict that the soul is beyond the laws of time and space which govern matter and the material world, so doesn't have a weight because it isn't bound by gravity;
Saying this however, take for instance the public in the book 1984. Books are banned, government propaganda and secret police are everywhere and the characters are killed for having their own aspirations and different thoughts. I propose the main characters would have had a soul but with all the 'neuro science' programming of the totalitarian state, totally rewiring everybodies 'neuro- circuits to the political correctness of the state in mind body and emotion, I propose those people don't have souls and are just mindless automatons.

Hello Ashley,

That was an intricate article quite intriguing thank you for sharing.

Your article also reminded me of things that occurred in America's History. You mentioned the religious and mythical interpretation of the Human Soul?

I'm African American Woman in my Youth we have too start learning our history so we can be prepared for the good and the bad in American Society; so I can still recall what I felt when as a child I found out during slavery Europeans taught that the African Slaves didn't have Soul's and this specific belief impacted the slaves when they wanted to get married.

It's a practice still done in some places within the African American community today and that was too Jump the Broom, and when they landed together after Jumping the Broom then they had landed in Matrimony because Black People did not have Soul's.

Learning that could have taken Me into a whole other direction but, First taught by my mom I'm a child a of God and only God knows who has a Soul and who doesn't and then through significant people in History such as Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr whose many biographies I've read and from Dr. King I discovered Booker T. Washington who famously once said Let No Man pull You Down so Low as to Make You Hate Them.

The stinging feeling from reading about how Black People didn't have Soul's no longer bothered me but, I can't speak for the entire African American Communities; it would not surprise me if each individual sees this from their perspective differently it also depends on one's life's experiences as well in American Society as an African American.

It's apart of history but one I can't run With God's help I've decided to embrace the infamous and the triumphs in History dealt towards My People.

Okay Goodbye for now Ashley until next time!

Hello Ashley,

That was an intricate article quite intriguing thank you for sharing.

Your article also reminded me of things that occurred in America's History. You mentioned the religious and mythical interpretation of the Human Soul?

I'm African American Woman in my Youth we have too start learning our history so we can be prepared for the good and the bad in American Society; so I can still recall what I felt when as a child I found out during slavery Europeans taught that the African Slaves didn't have Soul's and this specific belief impacted the slaves when they wanted to get married.

It's a practice still done in some places within the African American community today and that was too Jump the Broom, and when they landed together after Jumping the Broom then they had landed in Matrimony because Black People did not have Soul's.

Learning that could have taken Me into a whole other direction but, First taught by my mom I'm a child a of God and only God knows who has a Soul and who doesn't and then through significant people in History such as Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr whose many biographies I've read and from Dr. King I discovered Booker T. Washington who famously once said Let No Man pull You Down so Low as to Make You Hate Them so the stinging feeling from reading about how Black People didn't have Soul's no longer bothered me but, I can't speak for the entire African American Communities it would not surprise me if each individual sees this from their perspective differently.

It's apart of history but one can run from it or learn from it. With God's help I've decided to

ashley cowie's picture

Ashley

Ashley is a Scottish historian, author, and documentary filmmaker presenting original perspectives on historical problems in accessible and exciting ways.

He was raised in Wick, a small fishing village in the county of Caithness on the north east coast of... Read More

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