Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1907-05-08
s c lie n t l FL C
MaedouasII,s Soul Substance.


In the American Medicine Or. Dun
can Macdougall of IIaverilll Mass,
makes signed statement concerning
his SO called soul weighing expert
ments. which were recently featured
in the daily papers. He says that If
personal continuity after bodily death
Is n fact. the psychic functions continu-
ing without the presence OF brain and
body. then such personality exists rs
a space occupying body. for to his
mind it Is unthinkable that personality
Dr consciousness continuing personal
Identity should exist and not occupy.
space. He argues that II IL impossi-
bic 10 represent In thought that which
is not space occupying. as that would
be equivalent to thinking that nothing
had become or was something: that
emptiness had personality: that space
itself was more than space. all Of
which are contradictions aud absurd"
The question raised by his experiments
in the weighing OF bodies OF men and
animals Immediately before and after
! Jea tn was whether a space occupying
substance OF the continuing soul entity
has weight. He had rejected the the
DRY that soul substance could consist
VI ether. because one OF the crst attri
butes OF personal Identity Is the quail
OF separsteness. for ether Is continuous
and to be conceived Of as existing In
separate masses. This drove him back
to the assumption that IL the soul had
existence its substance must be "A
| form OF eravitative matter or perhaps
a middle form OF substance neither
! gravltative matter nor ether nor capa-
BILE Of being weighed and yet not iden-
teal with ether"
After reviewing the six cases OF the
scales test on human beings at death
| DIR. Mac1ougall says that the net re
suit OF the experiments conducted on
human beings is that n loss Of sub
stance occurs at death not accounted
for by known channels OF loss" He
infers that II this substance - n coun-
terpart Of the physical body, has tho
same bulk Or occupies the same dimen-
sions In space. then IL l. very much
lighter substance than the atmosphere.
ounces per cubic foot. This. IL true.
would actually Indicate that the soul
body would actually ascend In ordinary
atmosphere Or MacdOugall admits That
the absence OF VEGETABLE mass cav
ing the body AT death would be 10 ar
gument against continuing personality
for the reason that n space occupying
body or substance might exist not ca.
pable OF being weighed. such as ethc@.
Herculaneum Work Delayed.
The italian government gave notice
in the chamber that II would reserve
10 Itself the entire Initiative regarding
the proposed excavations at the ancient
city of IIerculancun, thus eNcludir
all foreign aid Of a financial nature
This means that the work will be de
layed indefinitely pending I'M invcsti.
CATION. ~ it is known that Italy lacks
the funds 10 carry on the work a. II
was proposed TO do by English scien-
lists by the ail of English capital.
Medical Lake.
Medical lake. 50 called on account
OF the remedial virtues OF It's waters
N hiluul'u Ou tuc Bttul tDitillbidli
plateau Ina southern Washington at an
altitude Of 100 feet above the level Of
the Pacific. The composition Of It's
waters Is almost Identical with that
OF the Dead sea. aud. Ike Its oriental
counterpart. no plant has yet been
found growing on or near Its edges. =
Scrap Book.
/