Re: Does the mass of the body change at death? [HAPP-L]

["David Evans" <devans@xxxxxxx>]

In the 1960's a reclusive gentleman (was his name Kidd?) in Phoenix, AZ left
$200,000 to whomever could provide proof of a soul. I understand that the
winner (after a LOT of litagation--this attracted half the nuts of the
Western US at the time) attempted weighing bodies and taking pictures (with
fancy-schmancy techologies of the time). One of the problems with the
photographic methods was catching a person at the point of death.

I heard (but can not cite) that all came to naught and was inconclusive.
You might check the archives of "The Arizona Republic," the largest daily
newspaper in Phoenix, the source of my clearly inadequate recollections.

I have heard of no other attempts in recent history but would be interested
in the results of another study. I guess, I would agree that the experiment
was hardly "famous." I think studying Daryl Hanna is much more
interesting...

> > > strautwe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 01/27/03 12:50PM >>>
A chemistry colleague of mine asked if I was aware of a (presumably)
famous
historical experiment in which the mass of a person's body was measured at
the time of death, in an attempt to quantify the mass (?) of the soul.  I
claim supreme and perfect ignorance of this experiment.  Can anyone
enlighten me?
Steven N. Trautwein, Ph.D.
Department of Biology, MS 6200
Southeast Missouri State University
Cape Girardeau, MO 63701-4799
573-651-2362 (phone)
573-986-6433 (fax)
strautwein@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 


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