Does Your Weight Change When You Die

1907 scientific written report by Duncan MacDougall

The 21 grams experiment refers to a scientific study published in 1907 by Duncan MacDougall, a md from Haverhill, Massachusetts. MacDougall hypothesized that souls have physical weight, and attempted to measure the mass lost by a human when the soul departed the body. MacDougall attempted to measure the mass change of six patients at the moment of death. One of the half dozen subjects lost iii-quarters of an ounce (21.3 grams).

MacDougall stated his experiment would have to be repeated many times before whatever determination could exist obtained. The experiment is widely regarded every bit flawed and unscientific due to the small sample size, the methods used, likewise equally the fact only one of the six subjects met the hypothesis.^[i] The example has been cited as an instance of selective reporting. Despite its rejection inside the scientific customs, MacDougall's experiment popularized the concept that the soul has weight, and specifically that information technology weighs 21 grams.

Experiment [edit]

Duncan MacDougall, pictured in 1911

In 1901, Duncan MacDougall, a physician from Haverhill, Massachusetts, who wished to scientifically decide if a soul had weight, identified six patients in nursing homes whose deaths were imminent. 4 were suffering from tuberculosis, ane from diabetes, and ane from unspecified causes. MacDougall specifically chose people who were suffering from weather condition that acquired physical exhaustion, as he needed the patients to remain still when they died to measure them accurately. When the patients looked like they were close to death, their unabridged bed was placed on an industrial sized calibration that was sensitive within two tenths of an ounce (5.half dozen grams).^[ane] ^[2] ^[three] On the belief that humans have souls and that animals practice not, MacDougall subsequently measured the changes in weight from xv dogs after decease. MacDougall said he wished to use dogs that were sick or dying for his experiment, though was unable to find any. It is therefore presumed he poisoned healthy dogs.^[3] ^[4] ^[5]

Results [edit]

One of the patients lost weight but then put the weight dorsum on, and two of the other patients registered a loss of weight at decease but a few minutes later lost even more weight. I of the patients lost "3-fourths of an ounce" (21.three grams) in weight, coinciding with the time of death. MacDougall disregarded the results of another patient on the grounds the scales were "not finely adjusted", and discounted the results of another as the patient died while the equipment was still being calibrated. MacDougall reported that none of the dogs lost any weight after death.^[1] ^[four]

While MacDougall believed that the results from his experiment showed the human soul might take weight, his report, which was non published until 1907, stated the experiment would have to exist repeated many times before any conclusion could be obtained.^[four] ^[5]

Reaction [edit]

Before MacDougall was able to publish the results of his experiments, The New York Times broke the story in an article titled "Soul has Weight, Physician Thinks".^[6] MacDougall's results were published in April of the same year in the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research,^[7] and the medical journal American Medicine.^[viii]

Criticism [edit]

Following the publication of the experiment in American Medicine, physician Augustus P. Clarke criticized the experiment's validity. Clarke noted that at the time of expiry in that location is a sudden rise in trunk temperature as the lungs are no longer cooling blood, causing a subsequent ascent in sweating which could easily account for MacDougall's missing 21 grams. Clarke as well pointed out that, as dogs practise not have sweat glands, they would not lose weight in this manner later on death.^[2] ^[3] Clarke'due south criticism was published in the May issue of American Medicine. Arguments betwixt MacDougall and Clarke debating the validity of the experiment connected to exist published in the journal until at to the lowest degree Dec that year.^[3]

MacDougall's experiment has been rejected by the scientific community,^[1] ^[5] and he has been accused of both flawed methods and outright fraud in obtaining his results.^[9] Noting that but one of the six patients measured supported the hypothesis, Karl Kruszelnicki has stated the experiment is a case of selective reporting, as MacDougall ignored the majority of the results. Kruszelnicki also criticized the small sample size, and questioned how MacDougall was able to decide the exact moment when a person had died considering the technology bachelor at the time.^[i] Physicist Robert L. Park has written that MacDougall'due south experiments "are not regarded today equally having any scientific merit",^[5] and psychologist Bruce Hood wrote that "considering the weight loss was not reliable or replicable, his findings were unscientific".^[9] Professor Richard Wiseman said that within the scientific community, the experiment is confined to a "large pile of scientific curiosities labelled 'almost certainly not true'".^[2]

An commodity by Snopes in 2013 said the experiment was flawed because the methods used were suspect, the sample size was much too small, and the capability to measure weight changes as well imprecise, concluding: "credence should not be given to the thought his experiments proved something, let alone that they measured the weight of the soul as 21 grams."^[4] The fact that MacDougall likely poisoned and killed fifteen healthy dogs in an attempt to support his enquiry has also been a source of criticism.^[iii] ^[4]

Aftermath [edit]

In 1911, The New York Times reported that MacDougall was hoping to run experiments to accept photos of souls, but he appears to not have continued any further research into the expanse and died in 1920.^[4] His experiment has not been repeated.^[5]

Similar experiments [edit]

In December 2001, physicist Lewis E. Hollander Jr. published an article in Journal of Scientific Exploration where he exhibited the results of a similar experiment. He tested the weight of 1 ram, vii ewes, three lambs and one goat at the moment of expiry, seeking to explore upon MacDougall'due south purported findings. His experiment showed that seven of the adult sheep varied their weight upon dying, though not losing it, only rather gaining an amount of 18 to 780 grams, which was lost again over time until returning to their initial weight.^[x] In 2009, Hollander Jr.'due south experiment was subjected to critical review by Masayoshi Ishida in the same periodical. Ishida constitute Hollander's statement of a transient gain of weight was "not an appropriate expression of the experimental result", though he admitted "the cause of the force event remains to be explained". He also warned about possible malfunctions of the weighing platform in two of the cases.^[11]

Similarly inspired by MacDougall's enquiry, physician Gerard Nahum proposed in 2005 a follow-upwards experiment, based on utilizing an array of electromagnetic detectors to try to pick up whatever type of escaping energy at the moment of death. He offered to sell his idea to engineering science, physics, and philosophy departments at Yale, Stanford, and Duke Academy, as well as the Cosmic Church, merely he was rejected.^[12]

In pop culture [edit]

Despite its rejection every bit scientific fact, MacDougall's experiment popularized the thought that the soul has weight, and specifically that it weighs 21 grams.^[i] ^[5] Most notably, '21 Grams' was taken as the title of a film in 2003, which references the experiment.^[2] ^[4] ^[v]

The concept of a soul weighing 21 grams is mentioned in numerous media, including a 2013 consequence of the manga Gantz,^[thirteen] a 2013 podcast of Welcome to Night Vale,^[fourteen] the 2015 motion picture The Empire of Corpses ^[15] and a 2021 episode of Ted Lasso.^[16] Songs entitled "21 Grams" which reference the weight of a soul have been released by Niykee Heaton (2015),^[17] Fedez (2015), August Burns Scarlet (2015) and Thundamentals (2017). Travis Scott references the concept in the song "No Bystanders", released in 2018. MacDougall and his experiments are explicitly mentioned in the 1978 documentary flick Beyond and Dorsum,^[18] and episode five of the first season of Night Matters: Twisted Just True.^[19] A fictional American scientist named "Mr. MacDougall" appears in Gail Carriger'due south 2009 novel Soulless, as an good in the weight and measurement of souls.^[20]

See as well [edit]

Fringe science

References [edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Kruszelnicki, Karl (2006). Great Mythconceptions: The Science Behind the Myths. Andrews McMeel Publishing. pp. 199–201. ISBN9780740753640.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Wiseman, Richard (one April 2011). Paranormality: Why We see What Isn't In that location. Macmillan. pp. 32–34. ISBN978-1743038383.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Roach, Mary (6 September 2012). Potent: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. Penguin. ISBN978-0241965016.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^{one thousand} Mikkelson, Barbara; Mikkelson, David P. (27 Oct 2003). "Weight of the Soul". Snopes. Archived from the original on 30 June 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Park, Rober L. (22 September 2008). Superstition: Belief in the Age of Science. Princeton University Press. pp. 102–103. ISBN978-1400828777.
^ "Soul has Weight, Dr. Thinks". The New York Times. eleven March 1907. Archived from the original on 17 July 2017. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
^ MacDougall, Duncan (1907). "Hypothesis Concerning Soul Substance Together With Experimental Evidence of the Existence of Such a Substance". Periodical of the American Society for Psychical Inquiry. 1 (i): 237. ISBN9785874496289.
^ MacDougall, Duncan (April 1907). "The Soul: Hypothesis Concerning Soul Substance Together with Experimental Evidence of the Being of Such Substance". American Medicine. 2: 240–243.
^ ^a ^b Hood, Bruce (i June 2009). Supersense: From Superstition to Faith – The Brain Science of Belief. Hachette. p. 151. ISBN978-1849012461.
^ Hollander, Lewis E., Jr. "Unexplained Counterbalance Proceeds Transients at the Moment of Death". Journal of Scientific Exploration 15 (4): 495-500
^ Ishida, Masayoshi. "A New Experimental Approach to Weight Modify Experimentsat the Moment of Expiry with a Review of Lewis East. Hollander's Experiments on Sheep". Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 23, No. ane, pp. v–28, 2009
^ Bosveld, Jane (12 June 2007). "Soul Search: Volition natural science pin down our supernatural essence?". Discover magazine . Retrieved 20 March 2020.
^ Hiroya Oku (due west, a). "Gantz" Where the Missing Mass Goes 372: 12 (19 March 2013)
^ "Faceless Old Adult female" (Podcast). Welcome to Night Vale. No. 26. 1 July 2013. Proverb i: The human being soul weighs 21 grams, smells like grilled vegetables, looks like a wrinkled tartan quilt, and sounds similar bridge traffic.
^ Sum, Ed (16 Feb 2016). "A Historical Analysis & Review into The Empire of Corpses". Otaku no Civilisation. Archived from the original on 16 July 2017. Retrieved sixteen July 2017.
^ No Weddings And A Funeral (Television episode). 24 September 2021.
^ Wass, Mike (ten August 2015). "Niykee Heaton Gets Serious With Dark, Sprawling "21 Grams": Listen". Idolator. Archived from the original on 16 July 2017. Retrieved xvi July 2017.
^ Beyond and Back (Documentary motion-picture show). 1978.
^ 21 Grams, Missing Cosmonauts, Sound of Death (TV episode). Dark Matters: Twisted But True. 28 September 2011.
^ Carriger, Gail (2 September 2010). Soulless: Book 1 of The Parasol Protectorate. Hachette. ISBN978-0748121489.