Escape the Tamping Rod

 

The brain is the most complex structure we know, so studying and discovering how it works is complex. For many years scientists have had to rely on dissecting brains when they're dead (we hope), which means they're no longer working. Not an ideal way to discover how something works.

Another strategy is to study what happens to a person when something goes wrong with their brain, which brings us to the unfortunate Phineas Gage.

At approximately 4:30 on 13th September 1848, Gage was working at clearing rock for a new railway. He was preparing an explosive charge, using a long metal rod to pack the explosives into a hole drilled into the rock. A spark caused the charge to explode, propelling the rod up through his cheek and out through the top of his head. The rod was blown 25m away from the accident. Miraculously Gage survived this.

Stories of his treatment following the accident are full of brain matter falling out of wounds and infections. The doctors could even see his 'brain pulsing' as some of his skull had been blown off as the bar exited his head. Miraculously Gage recovered enough, after a long convalescence, to hold down a job.

There are various accounts of the effects of the accident on Gage's behaviour, and some disagreement about exactly which parts of his brain were damaged. There is agreement that his frontal lobe was damaged and that people noticed a change in Gage's behaviour immediately after the accident. 

Before the accident, people said Gage was an intelligent, personable, and popular man. Afterwards, accounts say his behaviour changed. A statement made by one of his doctors says

That there was no difference in his mental manifestations after the recovery [is] not true ... he was gross, profane, coarse, and vulgar, to such a degree that his society was intolerable to decent people.

Today, it's difficult to know the exact cause of these changes. There was no medical imaging back then to show the extent of the damage, and the accounts of the changes in Gage are contradictory. This hasn't stopped the story from appearing in textbooks to show evidence of brain injury being the cause of personality changes. 

Today, with the advances in medical imaging, which can even show the brain working in real time (fMRI), we have a greater idea of which parts of the brain are responsible for which function. There are still many mysteries to solve, so if you fancy helping the effort, you can find out more about the brain here.