The Story of Phineas Gage

Phineas Gage began the day of September 13, 1848 as a man that was known for being kind, funny, and personable. He worked as the foreman of a railway construction gang in Vermont, where his group was prepping and reconstructing the land for the Rutland and Burlington Railroad. At just twenty-six years old, Gage was already a success story. His superiors were impressed with his skills at handling and detonating dangerous explosives such as TNT, Gun Powder, and Sticks of Dynamite. Gage had a combination of intelligence and athletic ability that made him perfect for the task of clearing boulders and hills from the path of the coming railroad. As his bosses noted, he was “the most efficient and capable man” in their group.

The essence of Gage’s job was to remove large sections of rock by shattering it from the inside out. First, a hole was drilled deep into the boulder, and then it was filled halfway with explosive powder. Next, a fuse was inserted, and sand was poured on top of the fuse. What followed was the riskiest part of the whole procedure. Directing the explosion into the rock instead of back out the hole, the sand on top of the explosive powder had to be “tamped down” with an iron rod. Gage, who was a master at tamping, had his own rod manufactured to his specifications. It was 3 feet 7 inches long, weighed 13 1/2 pounds, and was 1 1/4 inches in diameter. By all accounts, Gage had used the iron hundreds and hundreds of times without incident, and there was no reason to think the afternoon of September 13th would prove any different. However, his lucky streak ended abruptly at four-thirty on that late summer day.

Gage had drilled a hole into the rock and filled it with the explosive powder, indicating to the man helping him that it was time to put in the sand. At that point, someone called to Gage and he had become distracted. He failed to notice that his colleague had not yet added the sand to the hole and so Gage went to tamp down the sand on top of the explosive powder.

Unfortunately, there was no sand and Gage began tamping directly onto the explosive powder. Almost immediately sparks struck fire in the hole and the charge blew up in Gage’s face. The force of the explosion drove his three-foot long iron rod at high speed into Gage’s, skull and out the top of his head. It landed nearly 300 feet (or one football field) away from where Gage had been standing.

Immediately everyone in the Rutland and Burlington Railroad construction group rushed to Gage who laid, seemingly lifeless in dirt.

Amazingly, Gage survived the terrible blow. Witnesses reported that while he was thrown to the ground and exhibited a few convulsions, he was alert and rational within a few minutes after the accident. His men picked him up and took him by Ox Cart to a nearby hotel. There, a local doctor examined his wound and was in disbelief that Gage was living without part of his brain. It was later reported by railroad workers that they found pieces of brain near the sight of the accident.

Miraculously, Gage suffered no motor or speech impairments as a result of his traumatic brain injury. His memory was intact, and he gradually regained his physical strength. Unfortunately, Gage lost something else that terrible afternoon. His personality underwent a dramatic shift, changing his disposition to such a degree that his friends barely recognized him. “Gage,” they said, “was no longer Gage.”

Once a polite and caring person, Gage became prone to selfish behavior and bursts of profanity and anger. He had no respect for social ways of living and often lied. Previously energetic and focused, he was now erratic and unreliable. He had trouble forming and executing plans. There was no evidence of forethought in his actions, and he often made choices against his best interests.

Eventually, his immature and offensive behavior cost him his job with the railroad. It was not any physical disability that prevented Gage from working; it was his character, inability to logically make decisions, and his immature/emotionally charged attitude.

Gage may have been the first case to suggest the brain's role in determining personality and that damage to specific parts of the brain might induce specific personality changes. He died in 1860, having survived for nearly 12 years after having a metal spike driven through his brain.

Questions to consider...

Answer the following questions in your science notebook.

Be sure to go back through the article about Phineas Gage as you consider your answers.

Gage's personality changed dramatically after his accident. What does this tell you about personality and the brain?
Is the human brain a system?
What does The Story of Phineas Gage suggest to you about how the brain works with other parts of the body?
Based on your understanding of the parts of the brain, which part was most affected by the accident? Explain your reasoning.

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