Mr. Phineas Gage actually had an iron go clear through his head in 1848 and somehow survived it. This would be a miracle even now, but back then? He was, and still is, a medical marvel. Today he’s the most famous person to ever survive serious brain trauma.
Phineas was a well loved construction foreman who was contacted to work in Vermont on the Rutland & Burlington Railroad. In September of 1848, Phineas was working on a railway bed when he made a horrible mistake. A charge he had set exploded, and a 13 lb iron, 1 ¼ inches in diameter, went straight through his forehead.
It entered just beneath his cheek and exited the top of his head, through his left frontal lobe. This was with such force that the iron landed between 25 and 30 yards behind him!
Surprisingly, it is reported that he stayed awake throughout the initial part of the ordeal. At the hospital he became semi comatose, only speaking in monosyllables when spoken to. He spent a total of ten weeks recovering in the hospital; he lost sight in one eye, and a portion of his brain.
Amazingly Phineas actually went back to work for ten years after the accident, until the seizures he was experiencing made working impossible. He finally moved in with his mother who resided in San Francisco, and the seizures did claim his life at age 36, in 1860. He managed to survive a total of twelve years after the accident.
So, the physical part of this case is just incredible, but it was the man’s personality changes which blew everyone away. Before this accident Phineas was known to be a loving, caring man. You’d have been hard pressed to find even one person who to say a bad word against him. But after his accident, Phineas seemed to lose all compassion. Suddenly he was cold, uncaring, rude, and at times even downright mean; he was a man who had no empathy for anyone. Those who knew him well stated that he was not the same man at all.
Phineas’s case had a major impact in the way science viewed the brain. This accident became “the standard against which other injuries to the brain were judged”. And it may have been the first case which proved that specific parts of the brain control different things, such as personality. Today you can actually view Phineas’ skull, along with the iron, at the Warren Museum Exhibition Gallery in Boston, Massachusetts.
*I thought this would be the perfect first post for my comeback after my son’s brain surgery. It’s been a while but I’m officially back! There’s also a new Patreon article available. Thanks to all who sent their love during the past year, and I do hope everyone is well! 🖤🖤🖤
