Archive: https://archive.today/HHuxc From the post: >>It’s a little complicated to weigh a dying person on a hospital bed, but that didn’t matter to Duncan MacDougall. In the early 20th century, MacDougall’s unique, purpose-built scale was ready to receive test subjects. One of the first, a tuberculosis patient described by The New York Times as an ordinary man with a “usual American temperament” was placed on the bed as he neared death. With MacDougall and doctors watching over, the man died, and MacDougall noticed the scale’s counterweight dropped with surprising quickness. The scales displayed the weight that had been lost with death: three-fourths of an ounce, 21 grams. MacDougall had his result, the weight of the human soul. Or so he thought.