Weighing the Soul: The Groundbreaking Experiments of a Victorian Doctor (1907)
Book Details
Author(s)Duncan MacDougall
ISBN / ASINB01BJBXCVW
ISBN-13978B01BJBXCV9
Sales Rank256,345
MarketplaceUnited States 🇺🇸
Description
Dr. Duncan MacDougall ( 1866 – 1920) was an early 20th-century physician in Haverhill, Massachusetts who sought to measure the mass lost by a human when the soul departed the body at death. MacDougall attempted to measure the mass change of six patients at the moment of death. His first subject, the results from which MacDougall felt were most accurate, lost "three-fourths of an ounce", which has since been popularized as "21 grams".
MacDougall's experiments have taken on a life of their own in popular culture:
MacDougall's experiments are mentioned and reenacted in the 1978 film Beyond and Back.
A fictional American scientist named "Mr. MacDougall" appears as a character in Gail Carriger's steampunk adventure novel Soulless, as an expert in the weight and measurement of souls.
MacDougall and his experiment were a subject in a 2011 episode of Science Channel's Dark Matters: Twisted But True.
The idea from these experiments show up in the Dan Brown novel The Lost Symbol.
21 Grams is a 2003 American drama film which references the notion that the human soul has mass, more specifically that it weighs twenty-one grams.
MacDougall's experiment was mentioned in the comic series "The Unknown". Two characters are presumed to have tried to replicate the experiment with much more high-tech equipment.
The closing proverb of episode 26 of the podcast Welcome to Night Vale contains the phrase "The human soul weighs 21 grams", in reference to MacDougall's research.
The song "21 grams" by Niykee Heaton refers to the concept that the soul weighs 21 grams in the phrase "i just want your soul in my hands, feel your weight of 21 grams."
The manga Gantz by Hiroya Oku makes reference to the 21 grams containing the information of the soul in the final arc of the series.
The song "21 Grams" by Looptroop rap group contains the phrase '21 grams of soul that each man must hold.' which probably refers to McDougall's experiment as well.
Originally published in 1907; reformatted for the Kindle; may contain occasional imperfection; original spellings have been kept in place.
MacDougall's experiments have taken on a life of their own in popular culture:
MacDougall's experiments are mentioned and reenacted in the 1978 film Beyond and Back.
A fictional American scientist named "Mr. MacDougall" appears as a character in Gail Carriger's steampunk adventure novel Soulless, as an expert in the weight and measurement of souls.
MacDougall and his experiment were a subject in a 2011 episode of Science Channel's Dark Matters: Twisted But True.
The idea from these experiments show up in the Dan Brown novel The Lost Symbol.
21 Grams is a 2003 American drama film which references the notion that the human soul has mass, more specifically that it weighs twenty-one grams.
MacDougall's experiment was mentioned in the comic series "The Unknown". Two characters are presumed to have tried to replicate the experiment with much more high-tech equipment.
The closing proverb of episode 26 of the podcast Welcome to Night Vale contains the phrase "The human soul weighs 21 grams", in reference to MacDougall's research.
The song "21 grams" by Niykee Heaton refers to the concept that the soul weighs 21 grams in the phrase "i just want your soul in my hands, feel your weight of 21 grams."
The manga Gantz by Hiroya Oku makes reference to the 21 grams containing the information of the soul in the final arc of the series.
The song "21 Grams" by Looptroop rap group contains the phrase '21 grams of soul that each man must hold.' which probably refers to McDougall's experiment as well.
Originally published in 1907; reformatted for the Kindle; may contain occasional imperfection; original spellings have been kept in place.
