1848
— Cavendish —
One of the most remarkable events in medical history occured about ? mile (1 km) from here.On 13th September 1848, Phineas P. Gage, a railroad construction foreman from Lebanon (NH), suffered massive brain damage when a 3ft 7in (107 cm) long, 13? Pound (6 kg) tamping iron was accidentally blown completely through his head.
Under the care of Dr John Martyn Harlow, the Cavendish physician, Gage soon recovered physically but was mentally greatly changed. Once an efficient and capable foreman, he was now increasingly erratic, irritable and profane. His employers could not reinstate him and his friends observed that he was "no longer Gage".
According to Dr Harlow, Phineas later appeared with Barnum's Museum in New York, worked at the Dartmouth Inn in Hanover (NH), and drove stagecoaches in Chile. He died in San Francisco of epilepsy on 21st May 1860. His skull and the tamping iron are in the Warren Anatomical Museum at Harvard University.
Gage's accident was one of the first documented cases in medicine showing the relationship between personality and the front sections of the brain.
| HM Number | HMTLZ |
|---|---|
| Series | This marker is part of the Strange But True series |
| Tags | |
| Year Placed | 1998 |
| Placed By | Cavendish Chamber of Commerce and Cavendish Historical Society |
| Marker Condition | No reports yet |
| Date Added | Wednesday, October 22nd, 2014 at 10:40pm PDT -07:00 |
| UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 18T E 693730 N 4806072 |
|---|---|
| Decimal Degrees | 43.38251667, -72.60833333 |
| Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 43° 22.951', W 72° 36.5' |
| Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 43° 22' 57.06" N, 72° 36' 30.00" W |
| Driving Directions | Google Maps |
| Area Code(s) | 802 |
| Closest Postal Address | At or near 2091 Main St, Cavendish VT 05142, US |
| Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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