Researchers map damaged connections in Phineas Gage's brain  May
17th, 2012 in Neuroscience / Damage to Gage's brain (Image
copyright: John Darrell Van Horn and the UCLA Laboratory of
Neuro Imaging, 2012.)   (Medical Xpress) -- Poor Phineas Gage.
In 1848, the supervisor for the Rutland and Burlington Railroad
in Vermont was using a 13-pound, 3-foot-7-inch rod to pack
blasting powder into a rock when he triggered an explosion that
drove the rod through his left cheek and out of the top of his
head. As reported at the time, the rod was later found, "smeared
with blood and brains."  Miraculously, Gage lived, becoming the
most famous case in the history of neuroscience — not only
because he survived a horrific accident that led to the
destruction of much of his left frontal lobe but also because
of the injury's reported effects on his personality and
behavior, which were said to be profound. Gage went from being
an affable 25-year-old to one that was fitful, irreverent and
profane. His friends and acquaintances s