Schauble@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA (01/18/84)
Analog magazine carried an article on this between a year and two years ago. My back issues are inaccessable, so I can't be more specific. As I recall, the conclusion was that there was some evidence in the literature for a weight loss, but the measurements were old and done with crude equipment. The weight loss detected was of the same order as the expected error in the scales used. The author could find NO study that was sufficiently accurate to settle the question one way or the other.
Schauble@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA (01/18/84)
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guy@rlgvax.UUCP (Guy Harris) (01/20/84)
Since we don't know whether the soul is lighter or heavier than air (:-)),
a weight loss at death is not evidence for the existence of the soul in any
way, shape, or form.
Guy Harris
{seismo,ihnp4,allegra}!rlgvax!guypaulsc@tekecs.UUCP (Paul Scherf) (01/31/84)
My brother is a mortician and he told me, after he quit
laughing, that you guys that think people lose (or gain) weight
upon death are all wet. He said that "you might know about
computers, but you sure don't know about death".
Paul Scherf, Tektronix, Wilsonville, Oregon, USA
{cbosg,chico,decvax,harpo,ihnss,lbl-unix}!teklabs!tekecs!paulsc
{ogcvax,pur-ee,reed,ssc-vax,ucbvax,zehntel}!teklabs!tekecs!paulscemma@uw-june (Joe Pfeiffer) (02/02/84)
Well, gee, I was hoping somebody out there would come up with a real citation, but that hasn't happened. I saw a short note on the subject in the Seattle Times a while back. As I recall, they had patients on beds which incorporated sensitive scales (these are primarily for use with patients with critical needs to monitor water retention and loss). The scales showed a weight loss on the order of fractions of an ounce at the moment of death. They did the same with dogs, and no such weight loss was recorded. -Joe P.