Dr. Duncan MacDougall from Haverhill (Massachusetts, USA), was the first scientist to conduct this kind of experiment in 1906, as reported by the New York Times on March 7, 1907. McDougall “detected” the change in the body weight when the person had died. The measurements were performed on a special bed, which was also a gigantic scale with high precision, and have shown that the “soul” weighs 22.4 grams. Another weight measurement of the “transient substance” was done almost 80 years later, in 1990, by another researcher – Lyell Watson from the University of New York. In his experiments, the deceased became 2.5 – 6.5 grams lighter. And almost identical results were obtained by Doctor of Science Eugenyus Kugis from the Institute of Semiconductors of the Lithuania Academy of Sciences in 2006. He found that at the time of death, the person loses between 3 to 7 grams of body weight.
It is not clear yet if the difference in weight can be attributed to the soul. But the question related to the existence of soul may be answered soon. The studies designed to prove the existence of soul have now been conducted in 25 clinics in the U.S., Canada and the UK. Dr. Sam Parnia is in charge of these experiments. He came up with an idea to test the hypothesis of human soul escaping the body after death, the phenomenon which has been persistently described by individuals who had experienced clinical death.
The Doctor and his assistance place cards with written notes in intensive care wards, in places not visible to the patients from their beds, on the ceiling, for instance. The patient who becomes “dead” for a short duration, will need to read the words written on cards and then tell them to physicians. If the word is read and told correctly by one of the patients, then it is possible to say that an intelligent entity is separated from the body during death. And what else can it be but the human soul? The experiment will end at the end of 2013, and the separation of this intelligent entity from the body will be observed in 1,500 patients.
Skeptics’ opinion
Russian scientist, the head of the intensive care unit and resuscitation, Nikolai Gubin said:
“My colleagues and I conducted experiments on mice to determine when and how the weight loss occurs when a living organism dies. Four newborn mice weighing 4 and 5 grams were injected with strychnine. After that, two of the mice were placed in the laboratory containers without lids. And the other two mice remained in tightly sealed special containers. When the mice were later weighed, it was found that the weight loss (meaning the “soul” separating from the body) occurred in the first two test subjects, which were dying in the open air. Their weight decreased by 3 and 6 mg.
The mice, isolated from the outside world, had their weight unchanged. It turns out that this possible weight loss during the process of dying can be attributed to natural physical processes (water losses during respiration, heat and evaporation losses), and their effect on difference in body weight can be eliminated by sealing the test subjects undergoing the process of dying.”
In addition, it has been long known that a decrease in body weight can be recorded during sleep. In an experiment by Swiss scientists, 23 volunteers laid in bed, outfitted with ultra-sensitive scales and went to sleep. At the time when an individual transitioned from being awake to falling asleep, a weight loss between 4 and 6 grams had occurred.
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