The man who had an iron rod blown through his head and lived

By adamg on Fri, 10/30/2015 - 7:31am

Harvard reminds us that among the oddities at the Warren Anatomical Museum at the medical school is the skull of Phineas Gage - and the 17-inch, 13½-pound iron bar driven through his head while he was working on the railroad in 1848.

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Museum of Medical History and Innovation, West End Museum

By theszak on Fri, 10/30/2015 - 10:25am.

All worth noting...

Warren Anatomical Museum https://legacy.countway.harvard.edu/menuNavigation/chom/warren.html

Paul S. Russell M.D. Museum of Medical History and Innovation http://www.massgeneral.org/museum/

West End Museum
http://thewestendmuseum.org/

The last time we went to a

By JoeSixPack on Fri, 10/30/2015 - 10:37am.

The last time we went to a Harvard Museum, the sour-puss old woman in charge of the place gave us such a hard time that we never went back to any Harvard museum.

At one time, Harvard really didn't want "the masses" coming around their place. I think they still secretly feel that way.

The Warren Anatomical museum

By Felicity on Fri, 10/30/2015 - 3:29pm.

The Warren Anatomical museum is a hidden gem!

I've always found the Phineas

By chaosjake on Fri, 10/30/2015 - 3:47pm.

I've always found the Phineas Gage story fascinating. You know he didn't even lose consciousness at first? When his coworkers brought him (by horsecart) to the local doctor, he was awake and conversing, despite a big chunk of his skill and frontal lobe being gone. He reportedly grinned at the doctor and said something like, "I guess this will be enough business to keep you occupied," before passing out and slipping into a coma later as his brain swelled from the trauma.

The question remains. As a worker who was experienced with blasting powder, how did the accident even happen? The iron rod was a tamping iron, which he would use to firm up a charge in the hole. Apparently he forgot to add the insulating sand before tamping with his iron rod against stone, and a spark ignited the powder. But why not use a wooden tamper?