A pair of photographers in Massachusetts have discovered the only known image of Phineas Gage, a 19th century railroad worker who is considered the most famous brain-injury patient of all time. The daguerrotype depicts Phineas holding a long iron rod that shot through his skull and pierced his brain in a railroad explosion.
You may not be familiar with the name Phineas Gage, but he is one of the most well-known people in medical history. In 1848, twenty-five-year-old Phineas was working as a foreman for the Rutland and Burlington Railroad. He was in charge of explosives — blasting through rocks to lay the tracks for the railroad. It was his job to drill a hole deep into the rock, pour gunpowder into the hole, insert a long fuse, cover the gunpowder with sand, and then use a three-foot-long long iron rod to tamp everything down. Phineas would then light the fuse and run like heck to get out of there before the rock exploded.
One day, Phineas was holding the iron rod between his knees as he was putting the gunpowder in the hole. Something distracted him, and he dropped the rod into the hole. The rod hit the rock, which produced a spark, which triggered an explosion. That iron rod acted like a missile and rocketed up under his left cheekbone, behind his left eye, and out the top of his head, landing some thirty yards away.
With blood streaming down his face, Phineas looked to his friend and asked, “Did you see that?” Then a few minutes later, he stood up and started walking to the nearest town to see the doctor.
What’s fascinating is that Phineas never lost consciousness. He was able to walk and talk almost immediately after the accident. Six months later, he was featured on the cover of the Boston newspaper with the headline “Miracle Cure.” But he wasn’t completely cured.
He was no longer the same person. His personality and behavior had changed. Before the accident, coworkers described him as a good, moral man. After the accident, he started swearing so badly that his coworkers would no longer let him be around women. After only one month back on the job, he got fired because he was always showing up late and wouldn’t follow through on anything.
After that, he traveled the world and bounced around from job to job. He eventually became a circus freak with the P.T. Barnum circus and would walk around the circus grounds carrying his iron rod and recounting his unbelievable tale for a fee. Eventually, he went to live with his mother in San Francisco, where he died 12 years after the accident.
The tale of Phineas Gage shows us all how devastating a brain injury can be. Protect your brain.
You can view the image of Phineas Gage at:
http://brightbytes.com/phineasgage/index.html
