[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 104 (Wednesday, July 29, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9274-S9275]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     150TH PHINEAS GAGE ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION, CAVENDISH, VERMONT

 Mr. LEAHY: Mr. President, on September 13, 1998, the town of 
Cavendish, Vermont will be holding a very special event to commemorate 
the remarkable life of Phineas Gage. Phineas Gage was the victim of a 
freak head injury that occurred in Cavendish, and the effect his injury 
had on his personality resulted in a breakthrough in the understanding 
of brain function.
  To commemorate the 150th anniversary of Phineas Gage's accident, the 
town of Cavendish has planned a two-day celebration. A beautiful town 
in southern Vermont, lying on the original tracks of the Rutland-
Burlington railroad, Cavendish has initiated and organized the Gage 
celebration. At the heart of the commemoration events will be a 
historic festival in the Cavendish town center. The festival will 
include tours along the historic railway, artifact displays, including 
the first public display of Gage's skull and tamping rod, and Vermont 
artisan and craft demonstrations.
  The residents of Cavendish citizens are to be commended for their 
leadership and hard work in planning these events.
  To more fully explain the events of September 13, 1848, and the 
importance of this day for medical history, at the conclusion of my 
remarks and those of my colleague from Vermont, I ask that the story of 
Phineas Gage provided by the town of Cavendish be printed in the 
Record.
  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I join my colleague from Vermont in 
recognizing September 13th as the 150th Anniversary of Phineas Gage's 
accident in Cavendish, VT. Gage was clearing away boulders for a new 
rail line in the town of Cavendish, population 1300, when an explosion 
sent his tamping rod passing through his skull and landing 30 yards 
away. It initially appeared that Gage had survived the accident without 
long term effects. However, soon after the accident, it became apparent 
that his emotional stability and good attitude had changed forever 
offering insight into the effects of the frontal lobe brain damage on 
mental function.
  Earlier this year,Vermont Governor Howard Dean signed a proclamation 
declaring September 13, 1998 as Phineas

[[Page S9275]]

Gage 150th Anniversary Commemoration Day. On this day, accompanying the 
historic festival, Cavendish will host the John Martyn Harlow Frontal 
Lobe Symposium. John Harlow, Gage's doctor, carefully documented Gage's 
accident and recovery, providing early insight into frontal lobe brain 
damage. The symposium will draw experts and scholars from around the 
globe to reexamine the Gage case, and apply modern technology to better 
understand the connection between brain damage and personality change.
  I join my colleague from Vermont in commending the residents of 
Cavendish for bringing together their town, the state of Vermont, and 
the international neurological community to celebrate this Vermont 
legend and the medical breakthrough surrounding his life.
  The story follows:

                  The Story of Phineas Gage's Accident

       Phineas Gage is one of the most famous patients in medical 
     history and probably the most famous patient to have survived 
     severe damage to the brain. He is also the first patient from 
     whom we have learned something about the relationship between 
     personality and the function of the frontal lobe of the 
     brain.
       Gage was the foreman in a railway construction gang working 
     for the contractors preparing the bed for the Rutland and 
     Burlington Railroad just outside of Cavendish (Vermont). On 
     September 13, 1848, an accidental explosion of a charge he 
     had set blew his tamping iron through the left side of his 
     skull. The tamping iron, a crowbar-like tool, was 3 feet 7 
     inches long, weighed 13\1/2\ pounds, and was 1\1/4\ inches in 
     diameter at one end, tapering over a distance of about 1 foot 
     to a diameter of \1/4\ inch at the other end.
       The tamping iron went point first under his left cheek bone 
     and out through the top of his head, landing about 25 to 30 
     yards behind him. Gage was knocked over but may not have lost 
     consciousness according to historic accounts even though most 
     of the left frontal lobe was destroyed. He was treated by Dr. 
     John Harlow, the Cavendish physician, with such skill that 
     Gage returned to his home in Lebanon, NH, 10 weeks later.
       Seven months later, Gage felt strong enough to resume work. 
     But because his personality had changed so much, the 
     contractors who had employed him would not return him to his 
     former position. Before the accident, he had been their most 
     capable and efficient foreman, one with a well-balanced mind 
     and a shrewd business sense. He was not fitful, irreverent, 
     and grossly profane, showing little deference for his men. He 
     was impatient and obstinate, yet capricious and vacillating, 
     unable to settle on any of the plans he devised for future 
     action. His friends said he was, ``No longer Gage.''
       Phineas Gage never worked at the level of a foreman again. 
     He held a number of odd jobs according to Dr. Harlow's 1868 
     account. He appeared at Barnum's Museum in New York, worked 
     in the livery stable of the Darmouth Inn (Hanover, NH) and 
     drove coaches and cared for horses in Chile. In about 1859, 
     after his health began to fail, he went to San Francisco to 
     live with his mother. He began to have epileptic seizures in 
     February 1860 and died on May 21, 1860.
       No studies of Phineas Gage's brain were made post mortem. 
     Late in 1867, his body was exhumed from its grave in San 
     Francisco's Lone Mountain Cemetery. Phineas' skull and the 
     famous tamping iron were delivered by his brother-in-law to 
     Dr. Harlow (who was at that time, living in Woburn, MA). 
     Harlow reported his findings, including his estimate of the 
     brain damage, in 1868. He donated the skull and tamping iron 
     for preservation to the Warren Museum in the Harvard 
     University School of Medicine where they are still on 
     display, and still studied.
       The case created a good deal of interest in both medical 
     and lay circles at the time (which continues to this day). 
     Phineas survived a horrendous injury. His case began to have 
     a profound influence on the science of localization of brain 
     function. For nearly 20 years knowledge of the profound 
     change that occurred to Gage's personality was not widely 
     disseminated. It was true that he was physically unchanged 
     except for the obvious scars and that his mental capacity was 
     also unchanged. Without knowing about the personality 
     difference, most people thought he had survived totally 
     intact. His case was therefore used as evidence against the 
     doctrine that any functions were localized in the brain, 
     especially against the phrenological version of it. Later it 
     was also used as negative evidence in the medical debates 
     regarding aphasia and frontal lobe function. The real story 
     was publicized after 1868 by David Ferrier, the notable 
     English doctor and physiological research worker. Even now, 
     150 years after the fateful accident, the case continues to 
     generate controversy.

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