1 00:00:02,279 --> 00:00:06,360 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday, everybody. It is May three, and on this 2 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:09,600 Speaker 1: day in eighteen sixty, Phineas Gage was buried. His actual 3 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:12,160 Speaker 1: death date is a little bit unclear. This seemed like 4 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:15,400 Speaker 1: a good time to revisit our old episode on him, 5 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:19,119 Speaker 1: which originally came out on September eleven, and that was 6 00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:22,119 Speaker 1: right before the hundred and sixty fifth anniversary of the 7 00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:25,720 Speaker 1: accident that made him famous. Just a little heads up here, 8 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:28,720 Speaker 1: there is a fair amount of detail about a traumatic 9 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:32,640 Speaker 1: brain injury in this episode, including descriptions of the injury 10 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:36,880 Speaker 1: itself and how doctors of the day treated it. So enjoy. 11 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:42,360 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class, a production 12 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:52,000 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 13 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:55,320 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. Today we have 14 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:59,360 Speaker 1: a massively popular listener request. Yeah, it's one of our 15 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:01,720 Speaker 1: most requests of all times. So many people have asked 16 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:05,280 Speaker 1: us about to talk about Phineas Gauge, and we are 17 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:08,120 Speaker 1: coming up on the hundred and sixty five anniversary of 18 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:11,000 Speaker 1: the accident that made him and his brain famous. So 19 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:15,520 Speaker 1: here we go. It's finally I'm going to talk about him. 20 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:18,240 Speaker 1: So today it's pretty close to common knowledge that different 21 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:22,200 Speaker 1: parts of your brain have different functions and responsibilities, and 22 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:25,360 Speaker 1: this was far from the case back in when an 23 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:30,160 Speaker 1: explosion sent an iron rod through Phineas Gage's head, destroying 24 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: his left frontal lobe. Unlike anyone else in known history 25 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:38,200 Speaker 1: who had ever experienced such a catastrophic brain injury at 26 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:42,680 Speaker 1: that point, he lived, although altered, for more than eleven 27 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:46,480 Speaker 1: more years. Over time since then, he's kind of morphed 28 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:49,520 Speaker 1: into one of the world's most famous case studies and 29 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:53,320 Speaker 1: how damage to the brain can affect behavior, some of 30 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 1: which is legit and some of which is made up. 31 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:57,280 Speaker 1: So we will talk about that in more detail. I'm 32 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:00,920 Speaker 1: holding back my desire to talk about Futurama and Fries 33 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:03,960 Speaker 1: messed up brain, but anybody who watches Futurama knows what 34 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,040 Speaker 1: I'm talking about. Uh So, we don't really know much 35 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:10,160 Speaker 1: about Phineas though before his accident, now, before he got 36 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:13,680 Speaker 1: put on the map by the spike, his life really 37 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:16,440 Speaker 1: wasn't recorded. Uh we know he was twenty five on 38 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:20,760 Speaker 1: September eighteen forty eight when the incident happened, and at 39 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:23,000 Speaker 1: the time he was the foreman of a railroad crew 40 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:25,800 Speaker 1: worked and they were at that time working on the 41 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:29,200 Speaker 1: bed for the Rutland and Burlington Railroad. He was, in 42 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:31,760 Speaker 1: the words of a letter written by his doctor to 43 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:34,600 Speaker 1: the editor of the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, in 44 00:02:35,919 --> 00:02:41,800 Speaker 1: quote of middle stature, vigorous physical organization, temperate habits, and 45 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:46,440 Speaker 1: possessed of considerable energy of character. He was also a 46 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:49,240 Speaker 1: good foreman with a good reputation, and he was competent 47 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:51,280 Speaker 1: at his job and really good at managing the crew, 48 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:53,480 Speaker 1: who were all pretty fond of him. And as you 49 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:57,040 Speaker 1: can imagine, building a railroad, particularly at that time, was 50 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:00,839 Speaker 1: a really heavily manual process. When they had to cut 51 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:03,280 Speaker 1: through a hill, the crew would have to blast their 52 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:05,760 Speaker 1: way through rock, and one group of men would be 53 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:08,400 Speaker 1: preparing for the charge to be laid, and another had 54 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:10,920 Speaker 1: to be ready to clear away the rubble that happened afterward. 55 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:15,120 Speaker 1: And as foreman, Phineas was responsible for the overall operation 56 00:03:15,639 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: of these activities, and he was the one who was 57 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:20,919 Speaker 1: in charge of making sure the detonations when as planned, 58 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:24,239 Speaker 1: which he had been doing without incident. He was successful 59 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:28,800 Speaker 1: until that fateful day. Right, So, while they were blasting 60 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:32,680 Speaker 1: through rock, Phineas used a tamping iron. This was an 61 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:36,320 Speaker 1: iron rod that was forty three inches long one and 62 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:39,200 Speaker 1: a quarter inches in diameter, which one end of it 63 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:42,080 Speaker 1: tapered to a point that was a quarter inchine diameter, 64 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 1: and it weighed thirteen and a quarter pounds, So this 65 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:48,760 Speaker 1: thing was longer than your typical baseball bat, and it 66 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:51,880 Speaker 1: was made of iron. And first they would make a hole, 67 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:54,680 Speaker 1: and they'd put gunpowder into the bottom of this hole, 68 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 1: and then uh Phineas would use the pointed end of 69 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 1: his tamping iron to put the fuse into place, and 70 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:03,880 Speaker 1: they'd fill the rest of the whole of soil, and 71 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 1: then he would use the broad end of the iron 72 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:08,240 Speaker 1: to tamp down the dirt before they lit the fuse. 73 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:11,520 Speaker 1: He and his crew were working on a stretch of 74 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:14,400 Speaker 1: track near Cavendish, Vermont, which is a town that had 75 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:19,080 Speaker 1: about people. Walton H. Green described where this happened, and 76 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:22,240 Speaker 1: it could actually describe two different cuts along the tracks. 77 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: So we're not sure precisely where it happened, but we've 78 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:28,600 Speaker 1: got a narrowed down, so he said, at the second 79 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:31,800 Speaker 1: cut south of Cavendish, where many potholes in the rock 80 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:36,040 Speaker 1: give indisputable evidence that Black River once went this way, 81 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:40,520 Speaker 1: near where Roswell Downer built his lime kiln. Later. I 82 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:43,760 Speaker 1: love that method of giving direction. Later on there would 83 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:47,800 Speaker 1: be a lime kiln, but it wasn't there at the time. Uh. 84 00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:50,800 Speaker 1: When the accident happened. They had made the hole and 85 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 1: already poured the powder in, but they hadn't covered it 86 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:56,400 Speaker 1: up with sand yet. So while he was getting ready 87 00:04:56,440 --> 00:04:59,360 Speaker 1: to tamp it down, Phineas turned his head away from 88 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:02,000 Speaker 1: what he was doing ing And it seems as though 89 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:05,320 Speaker 1: he wrongly thought the gunpowder had already been covered with sand. 90 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:08,359 Speaker 1: But of course, as we said, it had not. And 91 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 1: he lowered the rod to tamp it down and hit 92 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:12,960 Speaker 1: the rock, and it made a spark, and at that 93 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:17,919 Speaker 1: point the charge exploded. The tamping iron flew upward. It 94 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:21,560 Speaker 1: entered under his left cheekbone and traveled through the roof 95 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:24,919 Speaker 1: of his mouth and behind his eye, through his brain, 96 00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:30,080 Speaker 1: and out his skull completely. I I was misunderstanding this 97 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:33,400 Speaker 1: in my earlier like my knowledge pre podcast knowledge of this, 98 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:37,320 Speaker 1: I sort of thought it had lodged, lodged somewhere. No, No, 99 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:42,880 Speaker 1: it traveled completely through his head and landed several yards away. 100 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 1: So this destroyed his skull in several places, along with 101 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:49,800 Speaker 1: obviously part of his brain. It also pushed against the 102 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:51,920 Speaker 1: back of his eyeball, so his eye was sort of 103 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:55,240 Speaker 1: protruding a little bit. He lost a whole lot of 104 00:05:55,279 --> 00:05:58,800 Speaker 1: blood from the resulting face and scalp wounds, and the 105 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:02,120 Speaker 1: damage to the vessels were inside of his brain. And 106 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:05,159 Speaker 1: I I want to go back and look because I think, 107 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:08,240 Speaker 1: similar to how you had the vision of it being lodged, 108 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:11,000 Speaker 1: I always had a vision of it being a spike 109 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:13,479 Speaker 1: from above. And I think it might have been a 110 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:16,520 Speaker 1: drawing or a piece of art at some point that 111 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:20,520 Speaker 1: was attributed as being Phineas Gaged that someone drew that 112 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:22,440 Speaker 1: might have had it that way, because I have the 113 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:25,479 Speaker 1: same image in my head of it being a lodged thing. Yeah, 114 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:28,679 Speaker 1: my understanding of this whole accident was completely incorrect. Before 115 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:31,680 Speaker 1: I learned more about it. It came up from underneath 116 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:37,320 Speaker 1: under his his cheekbone. I know it's it's crazy. And 117 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:40,040 Speaker 1: in the words of a news article in the Boston Post, 118 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:42,400 Speaker 1: which was picked up from the leadlow Vermont Free Soil 119 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:47,039 Speaker 1: Union quote, the most singular circumstance connected with this melancholy 120 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:49,560 Speaker 1: affair is that he was alive at two o'clock this 121 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:53,839 Speaker 1: afternoon and in full possession of his reason and free 122 00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:58,880 Speaker 1: from pain. Just let that sit there for a minute. 123 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:03,039 Speaker 1: So not only did he live through this experience, he 124 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:05,839 Speaker 1: may not have even lost consciousness, although there was a 125 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:08,960 Speaker 1: lot of dust and debris following the explosion that had 126 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: to settle before people got to him. If he did 127 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:14,760 Speaker 1: lose conscious it was really brief. He was able to 128 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:17,240 Speaker 1: sit upright in the cart while being taken to town 129 00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:19,160 Speaker 1: for a doctor, and once he got there he was 130 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 1: able to walk with you know, with some help up 131 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:27,360 Speaker 1: the stairs, which is also stunning. Yeah, I can't imagine 132 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:29,760 Speaker 1: who volunteered to help him, you know what I mean? 133 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:31,600 Speaker 1: Can you imagine like that? I don't, I don't want 134 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:33,240 Speaker 1: to do it. Well, he was, Yeah, he was kind 135 00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:36,480 Speaker 1: of He was a favored a favored boss by the crew. 136 00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:39,360 Speaker 1: They were all fond of him, and I think they 137 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:42,200 Speaker 1: had to have been a bit gruesome. It was definitely gruesome. 138 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:45,120 Speaker 1: It's gonna get more gruesome. So if if you are 139 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:48,440 Speaker 1: tender of stomach, let's just say that this may you 140 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:50,920 Speaker 1: may want to just fast forward, brace for impact, have 141 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:53,840 Speaker 1: a friend screen at first something, because it does get 142 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:56,480 Speaker 1: really gross. Yeah, I I skip over some bits that 143 00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:59,680 Speaker 1: are particularly disgusting because it got to a point when 144 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:02,320 Speaker 1: I was eating the day by day notes of what 145 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:05,760 Speaker 1: happened is congross. Yeah, it'll make you squirm, it will 146 00:08:06,280 --> 00:08:09,640 Speaker 1: uh So in town, Phineas went to Joseph Adams in 147 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:13,240 Speaker 1: you know, his tavern, and the town's doctor, doctor John 148 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:17,000 Speaker 1: Martin Harlow, wasn't available right away. They couldn't find him, 149 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:20,080 Speaker 1: so someone rode to another nearby town to summon their doctor, 150 00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:23,800 Speaker 1: who was Dr Edward Williams. And once Williams got there, 151 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 1: Phineas was feeling well enough to say, well, here's work 152 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:33,440 Speaker 1: enough for you, doctor, Yeah. Yeah, So about an hour 153 00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:36,679 Speaker 1: later doctor Harlow got there. He and Dr Williams conferred 154 00:08:36,679 --> 00:08:39,360 Speaker 1: with each other and eventually decided that doctor Harlow would 155 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:41,880 Speaker 1: be the one to treat Phineas. And here's a side note. 156 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:45,400 Speaker 1: We've kind of beat this into the ground at this point. 157 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:48,160 Speaker 1: If you're tired of hearing it, sorry. The whole thing 158 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:52,079 Speaker 1: was so horrifying and improbable that neither of the doctors 159 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:55,080 Speaker 1: nor a reverend who happened to see them going by 160 00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:57,360 Speaker 1: on the way to get the doctor, believed what they 161 00:08:57,440 --> 00:08:59,440 Speaker 1: what the crew told them had happened. They were like, 162 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:01,880 Speaker 1: no way, that is impossible. What you were saying, cannot 163 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:05,440 Speaker 1: have just happened. Um, they didn't believe it until they 164 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:07,559 Speaker 1: saw the rod in the scene of the accident, where 165 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:19,079 Speaker 1: there was blood and brain matter everywhere, and our knowledge 166 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:21,520 Speaker 1: of the brain wasn't the only thing that was vastly different. 167 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:26,280 Speaker 1: In eight uh medical practice was at a completely different 168 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:29,600 Speaker 1: point of its evolution, and the germ theory of disease 169 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:31,640 Speaker 1: had not really happened yet it was still to come. 170 00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:36,160 Speaker 1: So many doctors were treating illnesses by balancing humors because 171 00:09:36,200 --> 00:09:40,080 Speaker 1: they didn't realize the issues of germs in bacteria and protamination. 172 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:44,200 Speaker 1: Dr Harlowe specifically had graduated with his m d. From 173 00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:48,080 Speaker 1: Jefferson Medical College in eighteen forty four, although he probably 174 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:51,840 Speaker 1: also studied at Castleton Medical College in Vermont and the 175 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:55,520 Speaker 1: Philadelphia School of Anatomy before he went to Jefferson. His 176 00:09:55,640 --> 00:10:01,920 Speaker 1: medical practice was often focused on antiphlogistic principles, and today 177 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:04,280 Speaker 1: that just means anti inflammatory, but at the time it 178 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:08,320 Speaker 1: was this body of ideas that disease came from various 179 00:10:08,440 --> 00:10:11,880 Speaker 1: sources of over stimulation or excess, which needed to be 180 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:15,120 Speaker 1: balanced in order for the person to be cured. So 181 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:19,880 Speaker 1: a lot of common techniques were bleeding cupping, applying leeches, 182 00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:23,960 Speaker 1: and giving people laxatives and emetics to make them throw up. 183 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:29,280 Speaker 1: Dr Harlow actually credited how much blood Phineas had lost 184 00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:32,520 Speaker 1: at the scene of the accident um with helping him 185 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:36,319 Speaker 1: to eventually recover, and the way he described it described 186 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:40,160 Speaker 1: this was quote, may we not infer that this prepared 187 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:42,880 Speaker 1: the system for the trying or deal through which it 188 00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:46,760 Speaker 1: was about to pass? An interesting medical contempt. Yeah. Well, 189 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:49,120 Speaker 1: and there's like a tiny piece of truth to it, 190 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:51,760 Speaker 1: the fact that he had this open injury instead of 191 00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:55,280 Speaker 1: it like being a closed injury, and like his brain 192 00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:58,439 Speaker 1: had room to swell without it putting pressure on itself. 193 00:10:58,480 --> 00:11:03,080 Speaker 1: Like that actually is true. But probably the massive blood 194 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:07,280 Speaker 1: loss did not in fact make it easier overall for 195 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:10,800 Speaker 1: his body to heal. Yeah, and Dr Harlow also was 196 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:13,520 Speaker 1: a follower of phrenology, which you may have heard of. 197 00:11:13,559 --> 00:11:15,880 Speaker 1: It's that concept that the different parts of the skull 198 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:18,680 Speaker 1: relate to different parts of a person's character, and that 199 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:22,200 Speaker 1: was a really common belief at the time. Yeah. People 200 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:24,920 Speaker 1: have probably seen those pictures of skulls that have the 201 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:28,800 Speaker 1: little um grid lines drawn around them and they're labeled 202 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:32,360 Speaker 1: with what their particular area pertains to in the person's 203 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:38,120 Speaker 1: behavioral personality. There were no antibiotics or surgical disinfectants then, 204 00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:41,240 Speaker 1: and handwashing before a medical procedure was not even a 205 00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:45,280 Speaker 1: standard practice, So most of what doctor Hallow did was 206 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:49,360 Speaker 1: to clean out obvious dirt like loose brain tissue and 207 00:11:49,679 --> 00:11:52,480 Speaker 1: bone fragments out of the wound um and to try 208 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:55,400 Speaker 1: to replace the biggest pieces of the top of the skull, 209 00:11:56,120 --> 00:11:59,199 Speaker 1: sort of put them back in place um, and then 210 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:02,560 Speaker 1: close up this out and bandage the whole thing. He 211 00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:06,280 Speaker 1: also treated and dressed some pretty extensive burns on Phineas's 212 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:09,800 Speaker 1: arms and hands. Uh. Everyone had been so distracted by 213 00:12:09,800 --> 00:12:12,920 Speaker 1: the dramatic facial and head injury that they didn't notice 214 00:12:12,920 --> 00:12:14,959 Speaker 1: those injuries at first, But of course this was an 215 00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:18,400 Speaker 1: explosion related injury, so it makes sense that he would 216 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: have had other damage. During the first few days after 217 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:25,040 Speaker 1: his injury, Phineas did surprisingly well. I mean, he was 218 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:29,080 Speaker 1: definitely very ill, but he continued to ask after the 219 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:31,560 Speaker 1: work on the railroad, he would ask who was acting 220 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:35,359 Speaker 1: as the foreman while he wasn't there. He also declined 221 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:37,520 Speaker 1: to see his friends, saying that he would be back 222 00:12:37,559 --> 00:12:39,320 Speaker 1: at work in the day two so he didn't really 223 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:43,600 Speaker 1: need to have visitors. Um. The bleeding gradually slowed and 224 00:12:43,640 --> 00:12:47,120 Speaker 1: he was more or less able to sleep, but then 225 00:12:47,320 --> 00:12:50,600 Speaker 1: he started to develop abscesses and fevers and the wound 226 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:55,040 Speaker 1: became fitted. Dr Harlowe's response was to balance the humors, 227 00:12:55,080 --> 00:12:58,160 Speaker 1: prescribing a medics and less laxatives as well as silver 228 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:01,720 Speaker 1: nitrate to treat what he described as quote fungus, which 229 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:07,160 Speaker 1: may have actually been fungus coming from the Brain's pretty disgusting. Yeah, 230 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:11,439 Speaker 1: I mean, it's not a short walk to presume that, uh, 231 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:14,800 Speaker 1: a wound of this nature treated in the manner it 232 00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:18,880 Speaker 1: was would have some infection issues. Yeah. He also bled 233 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:21,800 Speaker 1: Phineas and drained the pus from the wound, both of 234 00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:24,560 Speaker 1: which were motivated by this idea of getting rid of 235 00:13:24,559 --> 00:13:27,880 Speaker 1: the excess and balancing the humors. But of all the things, 236 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:30,520 Speaker 1: they may have been of actual real medical use in 237 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:33,320 Speaker 1: this case, since they would have reduced some of the 238 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:36,120 Speaker 1: pressure going on inside of his skull and in the 239 00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:40,120 Speaker 1: case of the pus, removed infectious material from his body. 240 00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:43,120 Speaker 1: And Phineas had been able to see a little out 241 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:45,480 Speaker 1: of his left eye for a while after the accident, 242 00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:48,200 Speaker 1: but he did eventually lose all sight in it, along 243 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:50,160 Speaker 1: with the ability to open it, so it's kind of 244 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:54,200 Speaker 1: permanently shut. Right. He got a lot worse before he 245 00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:57,000 Speaker 1: started to get better, and at some points he was 246 00:13:57,080 --> 00:14:01,240 Speaker 1: nearly comatose. In September, his friends and family went ahead 247 00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:03,600 Speaker 1: and picked out a coffin and decided what clothes they 248 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:05,480 Speaker 1: were going to give they were going to put on 249 00:14:05,559 --> 00:14:08,200 Speaker 1: him to be buried in, and at least one of 250 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:10,680 Speaker 1: the people attending him said that they should stop treating 251 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:14,880 Speaker 1: him since it was just prolonging the inevitable. But eventually 252 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:19,240 Speaker 1: he started to rally and changes in his behavior began 253 00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:21,160 Speaker 1: to be a parent while he was still under Dr 254 00:14:21,240 --> 00:14:25,720 Speaker 1: Harlowe's care. For example, on October eleven, Dr Harlow offered 255 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:28,920 Speaker 1: him one thousand dollars for some pebbles that he had collected, 256 00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:33,720 Speaker 1: and Phineas refused. A little later in October, when he 257 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:37,400 Speaker 1: was really starting to improve pretty steadily. After that, you know, 258 00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:41,280 Speaker 1: dramatic downturn, he decided he was ready to go home 259 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:44,920 Speaker 1: and he planned to walk there. It was twenty miles away, 260 00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:47,680 Speaker 1: so he went out shopping for some provisions he was 261 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:50,040 Speaker 1: going to need, and he did so in bare feet 262 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:54,000 Speaker 1: with no coat on. So remember this was Vermont. This 263 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:56,800 Speaker 1: exposure set him back a little bit, but by the 264 00:14:56,880 --> 00:14:59,080 Speaker 1: end of November he was able to go home to 265 00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:02,880 Speaker 1: his family. So obviously he was having some judgment issues 266 00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:05,480 Speaker 1: at that point. He you know, would turn down a 267 00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:08,160 Speaker 1: large sum of money for for some rocks, for some 268 00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:09,840 Speaker 1: rocks which who wouldn't want to take? I would take 269 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:12,560 Speaker 1: a thousand dollars for pebbles right now? Uh. And then 270 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:16,600 Speaker 1: he put himself in danger kind of thoughtlessly. But Dr 271 00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:19,920 Speaker 1: Harlow attended to him for ten weeks. Uh. And then 272 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:23,000 Speaker 1: Phineas went home to Lebanon, New Hampshire by carriage and 273 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:27,760 Speaker 1: he stayed until April, continuing to recuperate. So of course, 274 00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:30,160 Speaker 1: one of the things, I mean, apart from having his 275 00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:33,120 Speaker 1: brain partially destroyed by a giant iron rod, one of 276 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:36,440 Speaker 1: the things that he is really famous for is for 277 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:41,240 Speaker 1: the change in behavior that came afterwards. Um. A lot 278 00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:43,920 Speaker 1: of this is portrayed as like he just became unable 279 00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:45,720 Speaker 1: to work and unable to hold a job, and that's 280 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:49,400 Speaker 1: not really accurate. His recuperation did continue to be pretty 281 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:53,000 Speaker 1: slow even after he left Dr Harlowe's care, but he 282 00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:56,120 Speaker 1: really wanted to get back to work. And he started 283 00:15:56,160 --> 00:15:59,320 Speaker 1: working on his parents farm. By the middle of the 284 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:02,400 Speaker 1: following year, which was eighteen forty nine, he was barely 285 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:05,600 Speaker 1: able to do a whole day's work there. So, even 286 00:16:05,640 --> 00:16:09,840 Speaker 1: as he was recovering seemingly pretty well physically, his personality 287 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:13,480 Speaker 1: had changed. And we described him before the accident as 288 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:17,680 Speaker 1: being very smart, competent, and reliable. But after the accident, 289 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:22,000 Speaker 1: Doctor Harlowe described him as fitful, irreverent, indulging at times 290 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:26,120 Speaker 1: in the grossest profanity which had not previously been his custom, 291 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:30,280 Speaker 1: manifesting but little deference for his fellows, impatient of restraint 292 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:33,720 Speaker 1: or advice when it complicts with his desires, at times 293 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:38,560 Speaker 1: pertinaciously obstinate, yet capricious and vacillating, devising many plans of 294 00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:41,400 Speaker 1: future operation which are no sooner arranged than they are 295 00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:45,680 Speaker 1: abandoned in turn for others, appearing more feasible a child 296 00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:49,400 Speaker 1: in his intellectual capacity and manifestations, he has the animal 297 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:53,080 Speaker 1: passions of a strong man. So most of what we 298 00:16:53,160 --> 00:16:57,720 Speaker 1: know about Phiness's behavior after the accident comes from Dr Harlow, 299 00:16:58,360 --> 00:17:00,440 Speaker 1: and there's a little bit of question today as to 300 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:05,040 Speaker 1: whether this account is entirely reliable. His belief in phrenology 301 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:09,600 Speaker 1: might have colored his perception of Phineas's behavior, especially considering 302 00:17:09,600 --> 00:17:13,280 Speaker 1: that some of his writings about him include specific phrenological 303 00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:19,000 Speaker 1: terms such as nervo bilious. But regardless even his friends 304 00:17:19,040 --> 00:17:24,800 Speaker 1: and acquaintances, we're saying that he was no longer gauge Uh. Consequently, 305 00:17:24,840 --> 00:17:27,240 Speaker 1: when he felt physically ready to return to work again, 306 00:17:27,800 --> 00:17:30,720 Speaker 1: his old employer wouldn't have him back. There's a lot 307 00:17:30,760 --> 00:17:33,680 Speaker 1: of popular writing about him today that sort of characterizes 308 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:40,359 Speaker 1: him at this point as a completely unreliable, unemployable, violent drifter. Um. 309 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:44,000 Speaker 1: This is completely inaccurate. He did find steady work after 310 00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:48,200 Speaker 1: he recovered, although that work did not involve handling explosives anymore, 311 00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:52,600 Speaker 1: which would make sense. He went to Boston for a 312 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:55,720 Speaker 1: while in eighteen fifty, where he was under the observation 313 00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:59,479 Speaker 1: of Henry J. Bigelow of Harvard, and he presented at 314 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:01,760 Speaker 1: the Boston He was presented at the Boston Society for 315 00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:04,920 Speaker 1: Medical Improvement and to a medical class at the hospital, 316 00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:08,560 Speaker 1: and Dr Bigelow also made a life cast of Phineas's head, 317 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:12,240 Speaker 1: showing the outward physical damage that was still evidence even 318 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:22,920 Speaker 1: once the initial wounds had healed. He spent some time 319 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:25,800 Speaker 1: at Barnham's American Museum in New York City and gave 320 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:29,000 Speaker 1: a couple of lectures and exhibitions about his accident in 321 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:32,439 Speaker 1: the Northeast sometime in the early eighteen fifties. And this 322 00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:35,919 Speaker 1: seems to be sort of the the total of his 323 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:39,640 Speaker 1: public display. Like sometimes people say that he traveled around 324 00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:41,520 Speaker 1: with a freak show and he became this freak show 325 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:45,080 Speaker 1: performer um and that seems to be an exaggeration of 326 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:48,760 Speaker 1: what was more a couple of exhibitions or lectures that 327 00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:52,679 Speaker 1: he was in. And in early eighteen fifty one he 328 00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:55,399 Speaker 1: was hired by Jonathan Courier to work at a livery 329 00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:57,960 Speaker 1: stable in New Hampshire and he worked there for about 330 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:00,560 Speaker 1: a year and a half. Then in August of eighteen 331 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:03,120 Speaker 1: fifty two, a man who was starting a new carriage 332 00:19:03,119 --> 00:19:05,760 Speaker 1: company hired him to come work with him in Chili. 333 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:09,760 Speaker 1: Phineas worked in a stable and drove a stagecoach in 334 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:12,760 Speaker 1: Chili for about seven years. And we've talked about how 335 00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:15,359 Speaker 1: demanding the job of a stage coach driver is in 336 00:19:15,359 --> 00:19:20,000 Speaker 1: our recent episode about Charlie Parkhurst. So it seems as though, 337 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:23,080 Speaker 1: contrary to some of the popular writing about him, he 338 00:19:23,119 --> 00:19:26,000 Speaker 1: did recover some of his mental abilities, or at least 339 00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:29,520 Speaker 1: adapt to life without them. Um It may even be 340 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:32,240 Speaker 1: that the really routine work of driving the stay the 341 00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:35,760 Speaker 1: same stage coach route, day after day after day gradually 342 00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:39,440 Speaker 1: helped his brain adapt, and eventually, as his health began 343 00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:43,080 Speaker 1: to fail, he went out to San Francisco, where his 344 00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:45,679 Speaker 1: family had moved in pursuit of the gold Rush. He 345 00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:48,359 Speaker 1: was pretty sick when he got there, but he recovered 346 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:50,560 Speaker 1: somewhat and was able to work for a while on 347 00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:53,359 Speaker 1: a farm in Santa Clara. But then he had a 348 00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:56,960 Speaker 1: series of seizures. They got more and more serious, and 349 00:19:57,040 --> 00:20:00,280 Speaker 1: he died in May of eighteen sixty He was married 350 00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:03,399 Speaker 1: on May twenty three of that year, and there was 351 00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:07,240 Speaker 1: no top There was no autopsy, but in eighteen sixty 352 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:10,080 Speaker 1: seven his body was exhumed and his skull and the 353 00:20:10,119 --> 00:20:13,600 Speaker 1: tamping iron were sent to Dr Harlow, and Dr Harlow 354 00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:17,200 Speaker 1: eventually sent those to the Warren Anatomical Museum at Harvard, 355 00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:20,840 Speaker 1: which already had Dr Bigelow's life cast. So you can 356 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:23,040 Speaker 1: actually see all three of these things at the Warren 357 00:20:23,119 --> 00:20:28,320 Speaker 1: Museum Exhibition gallery at the Countway Library of Medicine. Thanks 358 00:20:28,359 --> 00:20:31,160 Speaker 1: to this skull and a lot of modern imaging work. 359 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:34,040 Speaker 1: Today we have a much better idea of the exact 360 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:38,280 Speaker 1: extent of Phineas's injuries, especially where the rod went Besides 361 00:20:38,359 --> 00:20:42,159 Speaker 1: the obvious through his head. His skull was damaged in 362 00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:46,639 Speaker 1: multiple places UH that you would expect under the cheekbone, 363 00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:48,680 Speaker 1: at the back of the eye socket, and the top 364 00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:50,960 Speaker 1: of his head. And so he lived for the rest 365 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:54,120 Speaker 1: of his life with parts of his skull missing entirely, 366 00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:57,520 Speaker 1: including a pretty significant sized patch from the top of 367 00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:00,879 Speaker 1: his head. A number of researchers tried to tackle the 368 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:04,160 Speaker 1: question of exactly how the rod traveled through his head 369 00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:07,920 Speaker 1: and brain, and exactly what parts of his brain were damaged, 370 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:10,760 Speaker 1: because some of the holes that were in his skull 371 00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:13,480 Speaker 1: were smaller than the diameter of the rod, which, like 372 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:16,199 Speaker 1: the one under his cheekbone, was smaller than the rod was, 373 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:18,200 Speaker 1: and then the one at the top of his head 374 00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:20,880 Speaker 1: was a lot bigger. UM. A lot of their findings 375 00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:24,760 Speaker 1: didn't really agree with one another until we developed tools 376 00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:28,240 Speaker 1: like CT scans to look at the skull itself UM 377 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:31,879 Speaker 1: and m R eyes of living people's brains to create 378 00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:34,600 Speaker 1: kind of a model for what gauges might have looked 379 00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:38,399 Speaker 1: like in two thousand four, researchers use CT scans of 380 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:42,280 Speaker 1: the skull to create a three D representation of Phineas's 381 00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:45,560 Speaker 1: skull to try to determine exactly where the damage occurred, 382 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:48,600 Speaker 1: and their conclusion factors in that some of the bone 383 00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:50,960 Speaker 1: at the entry wound must have moved out of the 384 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:53,920 Speaker 1: way almost like a hinge, and then close back down 385 00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:56,919 Speaker 1: and later healed over, since the entry wound on the 386 00:21:56,960 --> 00:21:59,880 Speaker 1: skull under the cheekbone is smaller than the rod itself. 387 00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:04,200 Speaker 1: In a team of researchers led by John Darryl Van 388 00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:08,040 Speaker 1: Horne published a paper called Mapping Connectivity Damage in the 389 00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:11,520 Speaker 1: Case of Phineas Gauge. It used all kinds of medical 390 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:14,679 Speaker 1: imaging techniques to map out exactly which parts of the 391 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:16,760 Speaker 1: brain would have been damaged, and this is where they 392 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:19,760 Speaker 1: used m r s of other patients to to sort 393 00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:22,760 Speaker 1: of work up a model. Their findings are in p 394 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:25,840 Speaker 1: l OS one, so you can read them online for free. 395 00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:29,480 Speaker 1: And at this point most of the modern computational studies 396 00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:32,320 Speaker 1: agree that the damage was really confined to the left 397 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:36,439 Speaker 1: frontal lobe. Phineas became really famous in the world of 398 00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:41,520 Speaker 1: neuropsychology today. He's a case study in many many psychology 399 00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:45,119 Speaker 1: and neuroscience textbooks in chapters about how an injury to 400 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:48,920 Speaker 1: the brain can change a person's personality. But a lot 401 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:52,399 Speaker 1: of the writing about him today really sort of retroactively 402 00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:54,960 Speaker 1: gives his story a lot of credit for everything from 403 00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:58,520 Speaker 1: lobotomies to how doctors diagnosed tumors in people's frontal lobes 404 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:02,080 Speaker 1: based on ages in their behavior. But a lot of 405 00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:06,359 Speaker 1: this is really hindsight and sometimes it's uh kind of 406 00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:08,399 Speaker 1: pulled out of thin air. There's a little bit of 407 00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:12,080 Speaker 1: making things up going on. So his accident, the fact 408 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:14,840 Speaker 1: that he survived it, and the fact that he basically 409 00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:18,280 Speaker 1: recovered and lived for more than eleven more years, all 410 00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:22,960 Speaker 1: of that definitely contributed to the fields of neurosurgery and neuropsychology, 411 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:26,199 Speaker 1: and and they were on their own pretty incredible. He 412 00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:30,080 Speaker 1: really was long dead by the time surgery and sterilization 413 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:33,960 Speaker 1: techniques progressed to the point that neurosurgery surgery was even 414 00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:37,399 Speaker 1: a survivable event, And a lot of the writing about 415 00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:40,480 Speaker 1: him also ascribes what we later learned about lobotomy and 416 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:44,440 Speaker 1: brain tumor patients to Phineas himself sort of applying other 417 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:47,399 Speaker 1: people's behavior after the destruction of their frontal lobes to 418 00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:51,800 Speaker 1: phineas his behavior when he lived. But these descriptions which 419 00:23:51,840 --> 00:23:54,320 Speaker 1: we mentioned before that he became violent and shiftless and 420 00:23:54,359 --> 00:23:56,840 Speaker 1: couldn't hold a job, they just don't match up with 421 00:23:56,880 --> 00:23:59,840 Speaker 1: the descriptions of people that actually examined him and until 422 00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:03,159 Speaker 1: it around him. He kind of gets conflated with descriptions 423 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:07,840 Speaker 1: of other patients with completely different conditions that also involved 424 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:10,840 Speaker 1: their frontal lobe in some way. Yeah, their symptoms get 425 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:14,560 Speaker 1: attributed to his behavior or um ascribed to his behavior 426 00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:17,560 Speaker 1: when they weren't really going on. A lot of people 427 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:20,480 Speaker 1: also cite him as one of the patients who helped 428 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:23,480 Speaker 1: neurologists figure out that different parts of our brains do 429 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:27,200 Speaker 1: different jobs, and this definitely was not the case at 430 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:30,720 Speaker 1: the time. UM Doctors really knew very little about the brain, 431 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:34,679 Speaker 1: and there were two contradictory and competing theories. One was 432 00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:38,640 Speaker 1: that the brain was basically this undifferentiated thing with all 433 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:41,399 Speaker 1: of the parts of the brain able to handle any task, 434 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:44,920 Speaker 1: and the other, which included the phrenologists that we've talked 435 00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:47,959 Speaker 1: about before, believe that different locations in the brain had 436 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:52,119 Speaker 1: different functions. Both of these groups claimed that Gauge was 437 00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:55,560 Speaker 1: supporting their theory. The people who thought that the brain 438 00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:59,119 Speaker 1: could do anything from any part were like, well, he survived. 439 00:24:59,119 --> 00:25:01,720 Speaker 1: Clearly all the other parts of the brain made up 440 00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:04,720 Speaker 1: for it. Um. And the people who thought that the 441 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:07,760 Speaker 1: different parts of the brain had different functions were like, well, 442 00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:12,399 Speaker 1: his behavior changed, so clearly he supports our theory. Um. 443 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:16,000 Speaker 1: So this did add to the whole field and the 444 00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:18,000 Speaker 1: whole world of things that we know about the brain. 445 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:21,520 Speaker 1: But there are other doctors and other patients who actually 446 00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:24,639 Speaker 1: had a much bigger impact on this idea that the 447 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:27,480 Speaker 1: different parts of the brains do different things, In particular 448 00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:31,720 Speaker 1: Dr Carl Wernicky and Dr Paul Broca, who each worked 449 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:35,639 Speaker 1: with patients who have had damage to specific areas that 450 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:40,200 Speaker 1: affected their ability to use language. So Warnicky and broke 451 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:42,160 Speaker 1: Out have parts of the brain named after them based 452 00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:47,320 Speaker 1: on their research. Um. Without those kind of developments, we 453 00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:49,399 Speaker 1: we could not have jumped to the idea that different 454 00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:52,359 Speaker 1: parts of the brain did different things just based on 455 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:56,080 Speaker 1: Phineas Gauges case right, And we do have a couple 456 00:25:56,119 --> 00:25:59,520 Speaker 1: of pictures of Phineas Gauge. Vintage photo collectors Jack and 457 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:02,399 Speaker 1: Beverly Wogus acquired one somewhere along the line. Yeah, I 458 00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:05,480 Speaker 1: don't really remember where. They put it on Flicker in 459 00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:09,360 Speaker 1: two thousand seven, and eventually Internet chatter identified it as 460 00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:13,119 Speaker 1: likely be engaged, and this was eventually confirmed by matching 461 00:26:13,119 --> 00:26:16,760 Speaker 1: the photo to the life cast that set the museum Engage. 462 00:26:16,840 --> 00:26:21,720 Speaker 1: His family released another picture in the life mask of 463 00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:25,240 Speaker 1: Phineas's head and his skull and the tamping iron are 464 00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:29,000 Speaker 1: all at Warren Anatomical Museum at Harvard Medical School. The 465 00:26:29,119 --> 00:26:32,520 Speaker 1: rod has this inscription. This is the bar that was 466 00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:36,480 Speaker 1: shot through the head of Mr Phineas P. Gauge at Cavendish, Vermont, September. 467 00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:41,120 Speaker 1: He fully recovered from the injury and deposited this bar 468 00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:44,800 Speaker 1: in the museum at the Medical College of Harvard University. Uh. 469 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:46,800 Speaker 1: And then there is a name and some other dating. 470 00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:49,720 Speaker 1: So what's funny. There's a couple of funny things about this. 471 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:52,199 Speaker 1: One is that his name is spelled wrong, and the 472 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:55,639 Speaker 1: other is that the date is wrong. And exactly how 473 00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:57,840 Speaker 1: this all came to be is kind of lost to history. 474 00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:02,399 Speaker 1: At some point he gave the rod to Harvard's Medical 475 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:05,200 Speaker 1: School museum, and then he asked for it back in 476 00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:08,720 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty four, but the inscription is dated eighteen fifty. 477 00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:10,960 Speaker 1: So this all sort of in addition to being kind 478 00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:14,359 Speaker 1: of weird and misspelled, it calls him to question this 479 00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:18,560 Speaker 1: uh frequent thing that you may hear about Phineas, which 480 00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:21,040 Speaker 1: is that he carried the rod around with him forever 481 00:27:21,119 --> 00:27:25,000 Speaker 1: after the accident. Clearly he did not do that, um. 482 00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:28,000 Speaker 1: But clearly he also did want it, because he asked 483 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:31,000 Speaker 1: for it back from Harvard, So that's a little unclear 484 00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:34,320 Speaker 1: at this point. There's also a commemorative plaque in the 485 00:27:34,359 --> 00:27:37,720 Speaker 1: cavi in Cavendish, Vermont, uh and it was unveiled on 486 00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:42,040 Speaker 1: September thirteenth, which was the d and fiftieth anniversary of 487 00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:46,600 Speaker 1: Phineas's accident. There's also the book An Odd Kind of 488 00:27:46,640 --> 00:27:50,359 Speaker 1: Fame Stories of Phineas Gauge by Malcolm McMillan. It's not 489 00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:52,920 Speaker 1: the only book about him, but it came out in 490 00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:55,000 Speaker 1: in the year two thousand and it gives a really 491 00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:58,080 Speaker 1: thorough history of Phineas and the accident um, and it 492 00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:00,960 Speaker 1: debunks a lot of the popular perception of him and 493 00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:04,959 Speaker 1: his life and how he behaved afterward. So it is 494 00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:08,359 Speaker 1: I think the most thorough work on him that you 495 00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:10,600 Speaker 1: can get in one place. Today. Yeah, which is good 496 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:13,159 Speaker 1: because there's a lot of mythology that's growing and I 497 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:17,760 Speaker 1: understand how that happens. It's such a bizarre phenomenal thing. Yeah, 498 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:23,000 Speaker 1: it's easy to then accept some other pretty incredible details 499 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:25,320 Speaker 1: about the story, right well, and it's it's one of 500 00:28:25,359 --> 00:28:27,679 Speaker 1: those stories that now it's it's almost as interesting for 501 00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:31,720 Speaker 1: how it became this sort of neuroscience juggernaut as for 502 00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:36,639 Speaker 1: the actual accident that happened. So yes, fascinating and he 503 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:40,840 Speaker 1: is Gage hundred and sixty five years ago, a tamping 504 00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:44,880 Speaker 1: rod had a little accident through his entire skull. Yeah, 505 00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:52,840 Speaker 1: that's wild. Thank you so much for joining us today 506 00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:55,800 Speaker 1: for this Saturday classic. 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