Phineas Gage

Phineas Gage was an American railroad construction foreman that was working on September 14th 1848 by gang blasting rock whilst preparing the roadbed for Rutland & Burlington Railroad.

In order to set a blast, it involved boring a hole deep into a body of rock; adding blasting powder, a fuse, and sand; then compacting this charge into the hole using a tamping iron—a large iron rod. Apparently, Phineas forgot to set sand, which was used as means of protection against the explosion, and this set a forehand the explosion causing the iron rod to go straight into his head and damaged the left frontal lobe.

Amazingly, Phineas survived the accident without much damage physically, but emotionally, he was a completely different person as he now lied, gambled, bullied and generally became more aggressive  something that he never was before the accident.


   (Picture of Phineas Gage after the accident.)

From this case, we can see that our senses can be changed and therefore our perspectives of the world changes with it as well, but also that our emotions are crucial for our humanity and without them we become into something completely different, as in the case of Phineas Gage.