A Case Study: Phineas Gage

Most of pop culture knows Phineas Gage as the man in the "American Crowbar Case" but many don't know why it really mattered. Sure, he had a tamping iron go right through his head and he survived but, so what?

Phineas Gage was a construction foreman working in the mid 1800s. September 13, 1848, Gage would become the first known case study of the brain's function in determining personality. An ill-fated explosion had caused a tamping iron to enter Gage's jaw from the left hand side, pass behind his left eye, through the left side of his brain, go through his frontal lobe, and exit from the top of his head. The iron landed 80 feet away from him, smeared with blood and brain but Gage seemed to feel alright. Although he did vomit, he ended up losing "a teacup's worth" of brain from the top of his head which landed right next to him.

This accident had rendered Gage without vision in the left eye. Because the brain also has no pain receptors, he had felt no pain from losing parts of his brain, however, he was no longer the same person as he was before.

History regards this case to be the first case where the brain can be seen playing a role in a person's personality. Gage, prior to the accident, was a hard working man who was a favorite amongst all of his workers and peers. He could be classified as a "decent" man of society but following his accident he had become agitated and radically different from what he was. He had become more vulgar and profane with his language, becoming a lot more disinterested from society. This was mostly temporary as after a while, Gage became better acclimated with society.

The case had generated some theories about cerebral localization where certain regions were responsible for mental functions. While there are two sides to this conversation, it does note that the brain does have presiding power over functions that determine our character. Furthermore, his case was in a way the first lobotomy and the opening for psychosurgery. While many of the issues that occurred to Gage were as a result of his accident, his operation itself did not open doors for any personality changes.

Gage is considered to be quite a lucky man. Having survived a tamping iron that impaled him, he has become quite the medical case and even so a historical phenom. While his case does hold some medical interest, many dismiss the facts revolving around it since there is such little information about how he functioned before and after his accident.

Regardless, try not to get impaled by a tamping iron. We are not so sure of this outcomes this time.