Have you heard of Phoenias Gage ? This is an interesting case, which happened about 200 years ago. Gage had an accident at work, changing the process of human neuroscience .
Phenias Gage survived after a serious brain injury in an accident. Never in history have anyone survived such a fatal injury and left little lasting health problems. But his character changed completely after being injured.
an accident
As early as the early and mid-19th century, railway work was one of the most dangerous jobs. At that time, the industrial revolution in the United States was in full swing. The invention of various new machines and new equipment was aimed at making railway construction and operation faster. But unfortunately, many of these new inventions and techniques can be dangerous. During this period, thousands of railway workers were injured or died each year.
25-year-old Phoenias Gage is a railway foreman who is responsible for railway machinery and explosives. Employers all think he is a smart man and works hard. But none of this prevented a terrible mistake from happening.
1848 One afternoon in September, Gage and his men were in an explosion. They drilled a deep hole in the rocks exposed to the ground, plus blasting explosives and fuses, and then stuffed it deep into the rocks with a rammed iron (which looks like a giant metal javelin).
As it happens sometimes, Gage is distracted and relaxes his guard while doing this routine. He stood next to the explosion hole, facing the rammed iron, and this time, the rammed iron had not been filled with clay to prevent fire. Just as Gage turned his head and wanted to talk to a few people, before he could speak, the iron rod burst into sparks on the rock. Mars ignited gunpowder , and then a huge explosion occurred. And Gage happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Iron rod passing through the head
rammed iron like a javelin, and the explosion shot it out with incredible force, and the target was Gage. The 13-pound nail pierced into Gage's left face, through his cheeks and his open mouth (as he was about to speak), pierced upward into his head, through the bones, through the brain, and then out from the other side, landing about 80 feet away, splashed with blood and brain plasma. Gage immediately collapsed to the ground and twitched.
Although the accident was very serious, Gage did not die. During the recovery after the surgery, Gage went through a difficult period: an infection began to appear behind the left eye, where the stings passed. Gage's eyes began to swell, and the infected brain and pus oozed out of the sockets. According to records, the pus reached 250 ml, a fluid produced by bacteria, cellular debris and blood metabolism. After
, Gage's eye could not be seen, and then there was ptosis, which was the sagging of the eyelids. The ptosis did not disappear for the rest of his life, and the initial scars were still there. In fact, many of the muscles in his left face never fully recovered, and Gage's left face was barely able to move.
After receiving nearly three months of medical care, Gage returned to his parents' home and began to do some daily work. Although Gage's memory, learning ability, and exercise intensity did not change according to the doctor's report, the mother soon noticed that some of his memory seemed to be damaged. Over time, Gage's behavior no longer looked like before the accident. He seemed to have lost some of his social skills and became aggressive, irritable, and even blasphemed. The once adorable boy became reckless, gave up his plans for the future and did not start a family.
Gage's second half of his life
Gage failed to return to his previous job. Despite not having a family, Gage is an independent and active person. He went to Chile and became a coachman. Reports point out that it is through work that Gage has regained social skills and gradually regained the ability to live with people.
Unfortunately, Phoenas Gage still has a short life span, even though he survived such a horrible accident. In 1860, Gage began seizures , which made it difficult for him to work.He returned to his mother and brother-in-law who was in San Francisco to rest and recover. But in May, he suddenly had severe convulsions again. The family called a doctor to bleed him and let him rest, but he kept twitching. Eventually, in a severe epilepsy on May 21, 1860, Phoenias Gage died, who was only 36 years old. Gage was then buried by his family in Longshan Cemetery in San Francisco, but the story doesn't end there.
Doctor Harlow hasn't seen or heard from Phoenias Gage in years, and he has almost given up on his hope of seeing the famous former patient. However, when he read Gage's obituary in 1860, it aroused his interest in the case, and he got in touch with Gage's family. But it wasn't for mourning or sadness, but because he wanted to dig out Gage's skull.
It is shocking that Gage's mother agreed considering that the man saved her son's life. In 1967, Gage's skull was dug out. Dr. Harlow personally took the skull and the iron rod that passed through it and studied it for a while. When he was satisfied and completed the papers and research on the incident, he gave the skull and iron rod to the Warren Anatomy Museum at Harvard . They are still on display there to this day.
Gage brings value to medical science
Phoenias Gage's case provides two powerful materials for the next century's research on the human brain: the relationship between personality as a product of the brain and the brain, and the functions of specific areas of the brain. After all, if an accident can change a person's daily behavior by destroying the brain, then personality must be stored in the brain.
Some people believe that Gage’s case is a breakthrough in the development of psychosurgery, or even frontal lobe ectopic surgery, but there is no concrete evidence. It was Phoenias Gage's case report that brought scientists to the frontal lobe, an area related to personality traits, and the possibility of survival after his sudden injury.
Phoenias Gage's case mainly attracted attention with the end of phrenology. In the 19th century, phraology was a pseudoscience that attempted to study the physical shape of the skull and brain and judge a person's intelligence or ability from this data. Physicology was once widely used to support racism and white supremacy ideology , but with increasing evidence that it is nothing more than pseudoscience. Especially with the analysis of Phoenas Gage's accident and the surviving medical reports, the theory of phrenology has been completely overturned.
At present, at least two research teams have simulated Gage's accident on computers. A 2004 model reconstruction project pointed out that damage can occur on the "both sides" of the brain. But the recent 3D version shows that it is possible that only Gage's left brain has been affected.
2012 latest analysis estimates that due to the puncture of the iron rod, some of Gage's cerebral cortex and some of the brain cores were damaged, and his brain mass was lost by about 15%. This explains behavioral changes and memory loss. After all, areas like the prefrontal cortex are an important part of decision-making and planning.
