Transcript Lucky or unlucky? - West-English

LUCKY OR UNLUCKY?
By: Abigail Ormond, Hannah Herring, Whitlee
Letchworth, and Conner Craft
Phineas Gage
 Phineas Gage was a railroad foreman in Cavendish,
Vermont.
 He had hard earned respect from his peers.
 Phineas was a hard worker, loyal friend, and a loving
family member before the accident.
 He was 25 years old at the time of his accident.
The Accident
 Phineas Gage was struck by a tamping iron on
September 13, 1843. The accident happened when
he was blasting a railroad through granite.
 Witnesses remember seeing him standing over the
blast hole. Others say he was sitting on a ledge
above the hole, holding the iron between his
knees.
 All the witnesses agree that Phineas turned his
head to glance over his right shoulder.
 His tamping iron sparked against the rock and the
powder exploded.
 The tamping iron entered under his left
cheek bone, passed behind his left eye,
through the front of his brain, and out the
middle of his forehead.
 Phineas survived, but only for eleven more
years. Was he lucky or unlucky?
Why was Phineas Lucky?
 One minute after Phineas’s accident, he
was able to speak.
 Phineas Gage was luckily close to a doctor
that arrived quickly to his rescue.
 He survived eleven years with a large piece
of his cortex destroyed.
 Gage’s brain was pierced, but not
damaged in places of vital functions.
 Physically, Gage had a full recovery.
 He still had the ability to keep his balance,
focus, and remember old and new events.
 He was able to be in Broadway shows and
was able to drive a six-horse stagecoach.
 He was able to spend more time with his
family.
Why was he unlucky?
 Mentally, Phineas Gage never recovered.
 His family said he was nothing like the old
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Phineas.
He lost his job and respect from a lot of his
friends and family.
Pieces of his brain were taken away.
He lost the part of his brain that helped
him have social skills.
He became an alcoholic.
 People stared at him in public and judged
him without knowing his story.
 During the remaining years of his life, he
experienced epileptic seizures.
 Although he survived the accident, it was
still the cause of his death eleven years
later.
The Science of the Accident
 During the time of Gage’s accident, there
was no knowledge of the inside of the brain.
 Scientists thought that
the brain was divided up
into organs and each had
a different function.
 Scientists were able to use Phineas Gage’s brain
to learn new things about the brain.
 While recovering, Gage’s brain was completely
exposed to bacteria. This caused infection and it
is likely that it made his injury worse.
 The life mask of Phineas’s brain helped
scientists discover how bacteria was harmful.
Today
 Today, Phineas is still famous for his survival of the
accident.
 His skull rode in a limousine to Cavendish for a festival in
his honor.
 There is a rock monument in Cavendish in memory of
Phineas.
 His skull and tamping iron were previously
located at the Harvard Medical School.
 These objects now stay
in the Warren Museum
Exhibition Gallery at the
Conway Library of Medicine.
This library is also located in
Boston, Massachusetts.
What Do You
Think??
Lucky or Unlucky?
Sources
 Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story
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About Brain Science
Whitlee Letchworth
Abigail Ormond
Hannah Herring
Conner Craft
Google Images