The Washington herald., 1907-03-12
HOW TO WEIGH SOULS
New York Physician Thinks
Death Chair the Place.
SUBJECT WOULD BE HEALTHY
DIR. HerewHrd Darlington Suggests
Plan 10 Prove DR.. MeDougaIs
Theory-Fest with Sick Men Not
Conclusive, He Says-AssOciate of
Prof. HysIOp Believes in Doctrine.

New York. March 1.-THE weighing Of
murderers just before and after their
death in the electric chair to determine
whether human beings have material
souls is suggested by DR.. Hereward Car
rington. OF this city, TO obtain conclusive
proof Of the theory that the soul is mat
ter, which theory IS evolved from tests
made by Dr. McDougaI, OF Haverhili on
persons who died Of disease.
Dr. Darlington, who is a well-knOwn
associate Of Prof. James II. Hyslop, OF
the Society for Psychical Research, be
lieves that by his suggestion 1t can be
determined beyond doubt whether the
soul is a materialistic body OF purely
spiritual.
In discovering that the human soul
has actual weight. and is therefore ma
terialistic." said Dr. Darlington to-day.
Or McDOugal has made the most inn
portant addition TO science that the world
has known. He has carried scientific in
vestigation past the obstacle that for
years has thwarted all efforts Of psy-
biologists. and the wonderful result which
he has attained may revolutionize the
science of medicine, as we'll as that of
psychology.
"Dr McDougaTs achievement is star
tlins, The only thing that is needed is
more conclusive proof that his tests are
accurate. II by subsequent tests il can
be shown that he has not erred, his dis
covery will be the most important of the
age.
Wants Experiments with Healthy.
There seems no reason why such ex-
periments should not be invaluable to
determine the materiaHstic existence of
the human soul. True. similar tests have
been tried before, but no doubt they have
not been so carefully calculated.
The only thing that makes me believe
that there may be an error somewhere is
the fact that the persons whom DIT. Nc
Dougal experimental on were sick and
about TO die
Decomposition, some types of which
occur iu "a very short space of time
might have taken place at the instant of
death How much more satisfactory il
would be IL the subjects were normal
men, in perfect health.
"Of course, / would not advocate the
killing OF persons to demonstrate tnat
they have material souls, but after read
ing the accounts Of DR.. McDouEais ex-
periments I was greatly impressed by q
plan which came 10 me whereby healthy
individuals might be used as subjects
u refer TO criminals who are TO be cleo
1rOcutcd In their case death is inevitable
Why not arrange a scale, such as the one
used 10y DR.. McDougal, and uD0n il place
the electric chair?
Weigh Chair First.
THE weight OF the chair would be care
fully noted, and then the subject would
Dc led forth and placed in il, and the COM
bined weight put down I think that when
an electric current passes through a man Is
body it drives out all the air.
Il would place d glass hood over the
criminals head so that there could be
40 loss of weight in that way. Then turn
On the current and at the instant oi
death watch for a loss of weight.
In this way believe conclusive re-
suits would be reached, with none Of tho
unsatisfactory features attendant on ex
periments with those suffering from dis
ease.
There Is only ono question that troubles
me. Science has been attempting to show
that electricity is materialistiC In thai
case an electric current would hav,
weight, and approximate deductions woulC
have TO be made. I think this difficulty
could be overcome, however. The worlC
Is on the eve of "a tremendous scientif,
revolution. Perhaps this discovery is III,
initial step. Who can telI?"
Theory of DIR. QuaekenbOs.
Dr. J. d. Quackenbos. of S3I West
Twenty-eighth street member of tn,
London Society of PsychicaI Research
and the New York Academy of Science
and several medical associations, doe.
not believe that the human soul ha.
weight, because it is essentially imma
terial and not subject TO the know
laws Of nature.
He has, however. theory which d,
considers Of far more consequence tC
the human race, the proof Of which D.,
believes viii assure immortality.
For some years DIT. QUaCkenboS ha.
been experimenting with view to es
tablishing the fact that every human
being on this earth lives thinks. and act,
simultaneously on all the planets Of tn,
solar system. besides every sun and me
tcor that fills space
In other words, he believes that wheI
YOU meet YOUR intimate friend Bill
Smith YOU only see a fractional part o.
his being, the major portion being divide,
between Venus Mars, Jupiter, and OIL,
Sol himself