Page "Afterlife" Paragraph 96

A study conducted in 1901 by physician Duncan MacDougall sought to measure the weight lost by a human when the soul " departed the body " upon death.

MacDougall weighed dying patients in an attempt to prove that the soul was material, tangible and thus measurable.

Although MacDougall's results varied considerably from " 21 grams ", for some people this figure has become synonymous with the measure of a soul's mass.

The title of the 2003 movie 21 Grams is a reference to MacDougall's findings.

His results have never been reproduced, and are generally regarded either as meaningless or considered to have had little if any scientific merit.