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http://www.snopes.com/religion/soulweight.asp


Enter Dr. Duncan MacDougall of Haverhill, Massachusetts. The doctor
postulated the soul was material and therefore had mass, ergo a
measurable drop in the weight of the deceased would be noted at the
moment this essence parted ways with the physical remains. The belief 

that human beings are possessed of souls which depart their bodies
after death and that these souls have detectable physical presences
were around well before the 20th century, but claims that souls have
measurable mass which falls within a specific range of weights can be
traced to experiments conducted by Dr. MacDougall in 1907.

Dr. MacDougall, seeking to determine "if the psychic functions
continue to exist as a separate individuality or personality after the
death of brain and body," constructed a special bed in his office
"arranged on a light framework built upon very delicately balanced
platform beam scales" sensitive to two-tenths of an ounce.  He
installed upon this bed a succession of six patients in the end stages
of terminal illnesses (four from tuberculosis, one from diabetes, and
one from unspecified causes); observed them before, during, and after
the process of death; and measured any corresponding changes in
weight.   He then attempted to eliminate as many physiological
explanations for the observed results as he could conceive:

The patient's comfort was looked after in every way, although he was
practically moribund when placed upon the bed. He lost weight slowly
at 

the rate of one ounce per hour due to evaporation of moisture in
respiration and evaporation of sweat. 

During all three hours and forty minutes I kept the beam end slightly
above balance near the upper limiting bar in order to make the test
more decisive if it should come. 

At the end of three hours and forty minutes he expired and suddenly
coincident with death the beam end dropped with an audible stroke
hitting against the lower limiting bar and remaining there with no
rebound. The loss was ascertained to be three-fourths of an ounce. 
....
MacDougall  repeated his experiment with fifteen dogs and observed
that "the results were uniformly negative, no loss of weight at
death."  This result seemingly corroborated MacDougall's hypothesis
that the loss in weight recorded as humans expired was due to the
soul's departure from the body, since (according to his religious
doctrine) animals have no souls. (MacDougall's explanation that "the
ideal tests on dogs would be obtained in those dying from some disease
that rendered them much exhausted and incapable of struggle" but "it
was not my fortune to get dogs dying from such sickness" led author
Mary Roach to observe that "barring a local outbreak of distemper, one
is forced to conjecture that the good doctor calmly poisoned fifteen
healthy canines for his little exercise in biological theology.")

regard

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