tynor@uiucuxc.UUCP (01/07/84)
#N:uiucuxc:23900003:000:574
uiucuxc!tynor Jan 6 13:36:00 1984
I know this sounds silly, but a friend insists that she read "somewhere"
that "reliable" experiments have been done to show that the body unaccountably
loses weight when it dies. She seemed to think that this might be
evidence for the existance of the 'soul'.
Has anyone ever heard anything about this.
Is it possible that she got this anywhere but from the National
Enquirer? She claims that it was Science, or Nature, or some such journal!
Where is she reading this hogwash?
It's hard to be objective sometimes,
Steve
/* ---------- */ariels@orca.UUCP (Ariel Shattan) (01/09/84)
Your friend read that the body loses weight when it dies in the 1982(1?) October ANALOG. It was their speculative fact article that tried to deal scientifically with various psychic phenomena. It seems that some years ago a scientist convinced a few people to lie on a bed/scale during their last moments. Every one of them lost a few ounces at the point of death. Unfortunatly, the man only got about 8 people to do it; not exactly a representative sample. The article is definitely worth looking up. It basically said,"Well, we'll accept that SOMETHING's happening, let's see what we can find out about it using already proven scientific methods and principles." Ariel (rooting around in my library) Shattan decvax!tektronix!orca!ariels
david@randvax.ARPA (David Shlapak) (01/10/84)
I too have heard this cited as a "reliable report," and since I'm more
a devotee of Science than I am of the National Enquirer, chances are
it was in an at least semi-reputable journal.
Possible expalnation (depending upon how slight the "slight weight loss"
is): Air weighs something. After the last breath is expelled, it is
perhaps possible that the corpse might weigh, what, a gram or so
less than before.
Just blowin' in the wind,
--- dasjlp@inmet.UUCP (01/10/84)
#R:uiucuxc:23900003:inmet:11600003:000:578
inmet!jlp Jan 9 16:41:00 1984
Your friend may be right. Unfortunately, I cannot cite the source. I have
seen, though, something along those lines. The "experiment" was captured
on film. A erson known to be dying was filemed with scales, etc. attached
to a bed. There was a small ( on the order of grams ) mass change on the
bed at the time of expiration. The conclusion was as stated.
The presentation appeared again on television within the last five years.
The format was similar to one of those rhetorical Von Daniken movies.
The Organ Keyboard of
Jerryl Payne
{esquire,harpo,decvax!cca!ima}!inmet!jlp