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Phineas Gage was 25 when he had an accident at work. The metal bar stuck into his skull, passing right through it. After only a few minutes, the man regained consciousness as if nothing had happened. Trouble was, he wasn’t the same Phineas Gage anymore.
- Phineas Gage is perhaps the most famous victim of neurological trauma
- His brain was damaged in such a way that the man’s personality completely changed
- Phineas’ relatives said he simply ceased to be himself after the accident
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Phineas Gage’s accident. The rod pierced his skull right through
It was September 13, 1848, and foreman Phineas Gage and other colleagues were working on building a railroad near Cavendish (USA). Their job was to clear a path through the rocks, which they did with explosives. Workers placed the gunpowder in the hole, and Phineas began churning it with a metal rod. This led to a spark which sparked unexpectedly. As a result, the bar dug into Gage’s skull, drilling right through it. It crossed the cheek and brain, then landed 10 meters away.
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Though the injury seemed fatal, the man not only regained consciousness in just a few minutes, but also got to his feet and was able to walk. He was given medical attention, of course, but it could roughly be said that, apart from being permanently disfigured, Gage had survived the accident unscathed. The man not only spoke to doctors and remembered the names of his coworkers, but even assumed he would return to work in a day or two. However, this did not happen – after 10 days he lost his eyesight in his left eye, and for several days he was also in a kind of coma. The wound was also infected, but Dr. Harlow was able to remove the abscess that formed and Gage was able to continue to heal. After 2,5 months, the patient was finally discharged home.
What happened to Phineas Gage’s brain as a result of the accident?
Gage’s accident seriously damaged not only his skull but also his brain. As reported by John Harlow, the doctor who treated Phineas, the rod passed through his cheek just above the zygomatic arch, passing his left eyeball. It then pierced the cranial vault and came out to the other side near the cranial suture.
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Scientists estimated that Gage’s left and right prefrontal lobes were damaged. The man lost about 4 percent. the frontal cortex, as well as 11 percent. white matter.
After the accident, Phineas Gage became a different person
Although Phineas Gage not only survived the nightmare, but also recovered from it, something strange happened to him. As reported by his colleagues, he became capricious, disrespectful, and impatient. He didn’t take it well when something didn’t go his way. His behavior became unpredictable, he often changed his mind or blindly insisted on something. In addition, like never before, he began to curse vehemently.
The changes in Gage’s personality were to be so enormous that friends even said that this man was no longer Phineas. Especially since the reports also started to appear about alcoholism, and even about child molestation.
Phineas has thus become a terrifying legend that is both a neurological curiosity and a human fear of brain damage. Meanwhile, it is difficult to verify to what extent the personality changes described in the media from that period were reflected in reality, and to what extent they only served to create a sensational thread. There are no sources to verify what the man Phineas Gage was before the accident, and whether he was really that radically different from the man who woke up minutes after the metal bar slipped through his skull.
We do know, however, that Gage lived for 11 years from his accident, taking up paid employment and traveling. The cause of death was an epilepsy attack. He had epilepsy as a consequence of brain damage. The skull of Phineas Gage and the metal rod went to the museum, where you can see them with your own eyes.
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