SABATINI, R M E - Phyneas_gage

The Amazing Case of Phineas Gage Phineas Gage was a young railroad con struction supervisor in the Rutland and Burland Railroad site, in Vermont. In September 1848, while preparing a powder charge for blasting a rock, he inadvertently tamped a steel rod into the hole. The ens uing exp losion , with 2.5 cm of diameter and more than one meter of lenght again st his skull, at a hig h speed. The ro d entered his head trhough his left cheek , destroyed his ey e, traversed the frontal part o f the brain, and left the top of the skull at the other side. Gage lost consciousness immediately and started to have convulsions. However, he recovered conscience moments later, and was taken to a local doctor, Jonh Harlow, who took care of him. Amazingly, he was talking and could walk. He lost a lot of blood, but after a bout with infection, he n ot only survive d to the ghastly lesion, b ut recovered well, too. projected the tamping rod Months later, however, Gag e began to have startling ch anges in personality in mood. He became extravagant and anti-social, a fullmouth and a liar with bad manners, an d could no long er hold a job or plan his future. "Gage was no longer Gag e", said his friends of him. He died in 1861, thirtheen years after the accident, penniless and epileptic, an d no autopsy wa s performed on his brain. His former physician, Jo hn Harlow, interviewed h is friends and relatives, a nd wrote two, reporting Gage's reconstructed medical history, one in 1948, entitled " ", and an other in 1868, titled " ". Passage of an Iron Rod Through the Head Recovery from the Passage of an Iron Rod Through the Head Phineas Gage bec ame a classical case in the textb ooks of neurology. The part of the brain which he had lost, was fo rever associated to the mental and emotional functions which he had lost. Harlow b elieved that, as he wrote that "The equilibrium between h is intellectual faculties and animal propensities seems to have been destroyed. 06/11/02 12:36 Sabbatini, R.M.E.: The Amazing Case of Phineas Gage Page 1 sur 2 ttp://www.epub.org.br/cm/n02/histori a/phineas.htm

SABATINI, R M E - Phyneas_gage

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