Rebuttal to Claimed Refutations of Duncan MacDougall’s Experiment on Human Weight Change at the Moment of Death

Abstract

A Critical review was conducted on criticisms expressed in books and on websites of Duncan MacDougall’s weight measurement experiment upon the death of terminally ill patients; theoretical simulations of MacDougall’s experiment using a modern weighing system with load cells and thermohydraulic analysis were employed.  The following conclusions were obtained: (1) the uncontrolled escape of moisture from bodies due to insensible perspiration has practically no effect on the conclusion of his experiment that there had been anomalous losses in the weight of his patients upon death; (2) the speculated effect of convection air currents on MacDougall’s balance scales does not exist; (3) vibrational disturbances caused by cardiac and breathing activities, which disappear after the death of the patients, have practically no effect if the change in weight upon death is in the tens of grams rather than a few grams; and (4) the speculative tricky role of buoyant force of air on the body can be denied.  Therefore, all the cases of his experiment do remain as pioneering cases published in a scientifi c journal.  Theoretical implications of his experimental result and future perspectives of the experimental approach to this subject are discussed.