The Weigher of Souls (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: Émile Salomon Wilhelm Herzog
- First Published: 1931
- Type of Work: Novella
- Type of Plot: Science fiction—cautionary
- Time of Work: 1925
- Setting: St. Barnaby’s Hospital, London
- Genres: Short fiction, Science fiction
- Subjects: Love or romance, 1920’s, England or English people, Death or dying, London, Hospitals, Experiments, Mad scientists
- Locales: London, England
The Plot
The Weigher of Souls revolves around the scientific experiments of Dr. Howard Bruce James, a brilliant, solitary general surgeon. His experiments extend the research of two imaginary men, Baron von Reichenbach and Dr. Crooks. Von Reichenbach tested people who could, in total darkness, perceive a luminous fluid around men, animals, and flowers, something that Reichenbach called “life energy.” Crooks weighed the corpses of animals and observed that, after a regular interval of time, the weight of the animals dropped a measurable amount that was consistent for...
[The entire page is 915 words long]
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