[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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