The story of unusual accidents and incidents is always fascinating for a science geek. One such accident that the human race has witnessed was that of Phineas Gage. Gage was employed as a foreman by a railroad company and was in charge of a crew laying new track. One of his tasks was to blast apart huge rocks that were in the way. To fulfil this task, use of gunpowder was administered. This involved boring a hole into the rock and filling it with gunpowder using a long iron tamping rod. Unfortunately, on the day of incident a spark ignited the powder prematurely. Thus, propelling the five-kilogram iron rod through Gage’s left cheek and out the top of his head. Miraculously he survived, in spite of having lost a significant portion of his brain. Not only did he survive, rather within minutes, he was walking and conversing normally. The only immediate consequence was loss of vision in the left eye which apparently did not prevent him from sitting down and recording the event in his notebook. However, Gage’s luck couldn’t last for long. He developed an infection that left him in coma for a month. During this time, he was carefully looked after by Dr. John Harlow, who skillfully covered the head wound and later recorded the fascinating case in the Boston Medical Surgery Journal.
The depth of fascination was not over yet. Dr. Harlow decided to explore the incident as a neurological puzzle and set back finding the reasons. On extensive study and observation, he found that although the physiological condition of Gage wasn’t altered, a quite significant deviation in his behaviour was recorded. According to Harlow, the physical injury had changed the victim’s personality to such an extent that he was “no longer Gage.” Although his memory was not altered, the formerly mild-mannered Gage had now become inconsistent and stubborn, often peppering his words with obscenity. This led to a specific conclusion that although, the survival of Gage wasn’t disturbed by the removal of some part of his brain, it did lead to changes in his personality.
This evidence was later justified by Dr. David Ferrier. Dr. Ferrier, a scottish neurologist was one of the pioneering scientists to investigate “localization” in the brain. He demonstrated that stimulating different parts of the brain electrically caused movement in different parts of the body. Ferrier claimed that the accident with Gage had certainly harmed his frontal lobe and had led to disturbances in activities associated with the same. To support his argument, he curated research on monkeys by removing their prefrontal lobe. But, he noted no significant physiological changes, rather changes in their character and behaviour were reported.
“Such experiments were questioned not only based upon the ethics of animal experimentation but were also reviled by many who ascribed to the belief that the human brain was not such the sum of its anatomical parts, but had an intangible aspect, the soul, that had been infused by a Creator. The debate about the existence of a soul will never be resolved, but it is now well established that the prefrontal cortex of the brain controls the organization of behaviour including emotions and inhibitions.”
In any case, Phineas Gage died of epilepsy twelve years after the celebrated accident, leaving behind a fascinating legacy, and transforming our understanding of the relation between the body, mind and the brain. Gage’s skull has become an artifact and is on display along with the famous iron rod at the Warren Anatomical Museum in Boston.
Interesting!