A horrific accident with surprising consequences...


On September 13, 1848, foreman Phineas P. Gage...



...the US railway company "Rutland & Burlington Railroad" prepares a blast three quarters of a mile away from the town of Cavendish during track construction work. Exactly here...:



When he triggers the explosion, he is probably a bit careless and much too close to the explosion site! He also forgot to take the thick, sharpened iron rod with him that he used to drill the blast holes for the dynamite sticks in the rock.

The detonation pressure drives Gage the 3.5 centimeter thick iron rod through the skull...:







The iron rod enters the head below the left cheekbone and exits at the top of the head...:



Humanly speaking, the man should be dead!

But what really happened can only be described as a medical "miracle"!

During the accident, Gage remains fully conscious, able to speak to rescuers at the scene of the accident, and is later able to recount the full story of the accident.

He survives the accident, the wounds heal and all that remains is a deformation of the forehead plate...:



Only his left eye was irreversibly destroyed by the accident.

The next picture shows Gage with the iron bar...:



This photo featured here was only identified in 2009, after years of sitting unnoticed in the possession of a collector of historical photographs in the state of Maryland, USA.

Gage is referred to in the media and at medical and popular lectures as a "living medical miracle" - he makes a good living from the royalties...:





While Gage - apart from his eye - appears to be completely restored on the outside, one notices noticeable changes in his personality as a result:

Gage, who had always been level-headed, friendly and even-tempered before the accident, turns into a childish, impulsive and notoriously unreliable man, which is why he also loses his job with the railroad company.

In addition, the previously completely healthy Gage suffered from epileptic seizures and fever attacks again and again after the accident and often loses consciousness after violent seizures.

This clinical picture, observed for the first time in Gage, is now called "frontal brain syndrome" in neurology - and in allusion to Gage's accident.

On May 21, 1860, Phineas P. Gage suffered another seizure and lost consciousness. After several more seizures, he does not regain consciousness and dies.

In 1867 the body was exhumed. The skull and the iron bar that was buried with it at the time were exhibited in the Harvard Medical School Museum...:



...In 1994 the skull was scanned by Hanna Damásio at the University of Iowa - the two CT images I have shown here come from this examination...

The Gage case is now part of the standard curriculum for prospective neurologists at almost every university...:



At the accident site today - of course - a memorial stone reminds of Phineas Gage...: