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Journal of the History of the Neurosciences: Basic and Clinical Perspectives

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Face to Face with Phineas Gage

Jack Wilgus & Beverly Wilgus
a a a

Photographers and Photographic Collectors, Maryland, USA Version of record first published: 22 Jul 2009.

To cite this article: Jack Wilgus & Beverly Wilgus (2009): Face to Face with Phineas Gage, Journal of the History of the Neurosciences: Basic and Clinical Perspectives, 18:3, 340-345 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09647040903018402

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Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 18:340345, 2009 Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0964-704X print / 1744-5213 online DOI: 10.1080/09647040903018402

1744-5213 0964-704X NJHN Journal of the History of the Neurosciences Neurosciences, Vol. 18, No. 3, May 2009: pp. 112

Face to Face with Phineas Gage

Face Wilgus Jack to Face and with Beverly PhineasWilgus Gage

JACK WILGUS AND BEVERLY WILGUS

Photographers and Photographic Collectors, Maryland, USA
We present here a reproduction of a daguerreotype of Phineas Gage that came into our possession more than 30 years ago. It is, as far as we know, the only image of this famous patient. We describe how we identified the subject in the image, describe how daguerreotypes are made and set out our comparisons of the image with the Phineas Gage life mask and tamping iron held in the Warren Anatomical Museum, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine. Keywords Phineas Gage, history, daguerreotype, traumatic brain injury, tamping iron

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The daguerreotype that we present here (Figure 1) depicts, we believe, Phineas Gage (18231860) the railroad construction worker well known to readers of this journal (Harlow 1848, 1868). Although we are confident this is indeed a photograph of Gage, we made that identification only recently. For 30 years, we had displayed this photo among a select group of our favorite daguerreotypes, imagining it to be The Whaler with his harpoon and with his left eye stitched shut after an encounter with an angry whale. We would still be telling that story today if we had not posted the image on the picture-sharing site flickr.com in 2007, where it caught the attention of a group of whaling-history enthusiasts, whose consensus was that whatever our whaler was holding was not a harpoon. Naturally we were disappointed. But our disappointment turned to excitement in December 2008, when an anonymous visitor to the site posted the following comment: . . . maybe you found a photo of Phineas Gage? If so, it would be the only one known. We had never heard of Phineas Gage! Who was he, we wondered? And, whoever he might be, is this really his photograph? Our first step was to consult Google, which returned 84,400 results for Phineas Gage! We soon obtained Malcolm Macmillans (2000) comprehensive book on Gage and John Fleischmans (2002) book for children. We read journal articles, visited Web sites such as the Phineas Gage Information Page (www.deakin.edu.au/hmnbs/psychology/ gagepage) and learned as much as we could about Gage and his accident. We learned there is a small body of fact about the man, though a large body of speculation. And along with the scholarly and serious consideration of Gage, we discovered his widespread and
We thank Dominic Hall, Curator, Warren Anatomical Museum, Countway Library of Medicine, and Dr. Scott Podolsky, Director, Center for the History of Medicine at Harvard Medical School for access to the Phineas Gage material. We are especially thankful to Edith Bavin, Malcolm Macmillan and Matthew L. Lena for their assistance and advice in the preparation of this paper. Address correspondence to Jack Wilgus and Beverly Wilgus. E-mail: phineasgage@ brightbytes.com

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Figure 1. Sixth plate daguerreotype of Phineas Gage in the collection of Jack and Beverly Wilgus (Image Jack Wilgus and used with his permission).

sometimes bizarre place in popular culture. We also contacted Dominic Hall, curator of the Warren Anatomical Museum at Harvard Medical School which proved an invaluable move. As many readers of the journal will already know, on September 13, 1848, Gage was the 25-year-old foreman of a railroad construction gang preparing a railroad bed outside Cavendish, Vermont. As usual, he used his 3-foot 7-inch, 13-pound pointed iron rod to tamp gunpowder and sand into a hole drilled into rock. But that particular day, something went horribly wrong: an accidental explosion sent the rod flying up through his left cheek and out the top of his head. To the amazement of everyone, not only was he not killed, but he lived for more than 11 years afterwards. We also learned there is continuing uncertainty about the extent to which he was changed by the accident (A. R. Damasio, 1994; H. Damasio et al., 1994; Macmillan, 2008; Ratiu & Talos, 2004).

What is a Daguerreotype
The daguerreotype was the first widely used photographic process. Introduced in 1839 by Parisian inventor Louis Jacques Mand Daguerre, it was the photographic process of choice in America from the early 1840s until the mid-1850s.

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A copper sheet is plated on one side with silver, which is polished to a mirror shine, washed in distilled water and nitric acid and dried. In a darkroom the silver surface is fumed with iodine and then bromine, which makes it light sensitive. The plate is placed in a camera and an exposure is made. The exposed plate is removed to a darkroom and placed, silver side down, over the fumes of heated mercury. This develops the latent image by forming a whitish amalgam in the areas that were exposed to light. The plate is then fixed with a solution of hyposulphite of soda, washed and dried (Newhall, 1968, pp. 115128). The whites of the photograph are the whitish amalgam and the darks are formed when dark areas are reflected in the polished silver. Because of the reflective surface of the daguerreotype the physician Oliver Wendell Holmes called it the mirror with a memory (Holmes, 1864, p. 129). Each daguerreotype is a unique camera image there is no negative from which multiple copies can be made. Because of the fragile surface the daguerreotype can be lightly tinted but it cannot be retouched. Except in the rare cases where a prism lens has been used, a daguerreotype is laterally (left-right) reversed. In order to show Gages features correctly, as they would appear in life, we have performed our own, compensating reversal on the image presented here. Standard sizes of daguerreotypes ranged from whole plate down to ninth plate, although larger and smaller images were made. The Gage daguerreotype is a sixth plate, 2 by 3 inches (or 70 83 mm), and the most common size for portraits. Since its surface is extremely fragile and subject to tarnish, a daguerreotype must be sealed for protection from abrasion and air. The Gage daguerreotype is cased in the usual manner for the period. The plate is bound with paper tape to a gilded brass mat and a piece of glass. A brass frame called a preserver is crimped around the edge of this package. This assembly is then pressed into a hinged case of leather or (as in this case) imitation leather.

What is the Provenance of this Daguerreotype?

In our experience daguerreotypes very rarely come with any history. Only when (for example) an image has been in a single family from the beginning, or was acquired by an institution early on, is there likely to be any meaningful provenance. It is a cause for joy when a maker can be identified by his stamp on the case or mat. A note or newspaper clipping tucked into the case is extremely rare. Only a few items in our collection carry any such clues, and as with most of our 100-plus daguerreotypes, we have no record of acquiring this particular one. As a result, most daguerreotypes are of unidentified people, made by unidentified photographers.

How did we Confirm that this is Gage?

At the height of their popularity in 1853, an estimated three million daguerreotypes were being made annually in the United States. A sixth-plate daguerreotype might cost about $2, although they were advertised for as little as 25 (Newhall, 1968, p. 63). Thus the daguerreotype process would have been the likely choice for a portrait of Gage during the years immediately after 1850, when he was known to be in the eastern United States, probably in possession of his inscribed tamping iron. Without provenance, we had to confirm our identification by the content of the image itself. Fortunately, Gages skull and tamping iron and an 1850 life mask are in the Warren Museum. We visited the Warren to compare the daguerreotype with the life mask and tamping iron. When the face in the daguerreotype is overlaid or placed side-by-side with a photograph of the life mask, the distinct scar on the forehead matches exactly (Figure 2). The

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Figure 2. Detail of face from daguerreotype (Image Jack Wilgus and used with his permission), life mask of Phineas Gage (used by permission of Warren Anatomical Museum, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine).

depression that starts at the corner of his right eye, and the shape of the mouth, are the same on both. The left eye in this daguerreotype is closed, but the globe still appears to be present. Gage lost sight in his left eye and the use of the muscle that held it open, but Bigelow (1850) noted the eye itself was present during his examination at about the time the life mask was made. In addition, an enlarged photograph of the iron rod in the daguerreotype shows cursive writing down its length. We were able to match the position of ascenders and descenders with the text inscribed on the tamping iron. Although difficult to read, part of what is visible seems to be . . . through the head of Mr. Phi . . . (Figure 3). With all this evidence, we were sure that the anonymously-posted comment was correct: this is the image of Phineas Gage.

Why was the Photograph Made?

We can find no reference to any photograph of Gage. We imagine Gage may have had this particular one made for his family or to commemorate the inscription of the rod. Considering how well known Phineas Gage is today we were surprised that this is the first photograph of him discovered. In retrospect we think that his real fame came after his death in 1860.

What can this Portrait Tell us About Phineas Gage?

A number of people have commented, He was a handsome man. We agree. Whats more, he is well dressed and confident, even proud. One theory about Gage that his

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Figure 3. (A) Detail of daguerreotype showing inscribed text on tamping iron (Image Jack Wilgus and used with his permission). (B) Detail of daguerreotype showing inscribed text on tamping iron with text overlay (Image Jack Wilgus and used with his permission). (C) Photograph of inscribed text on the tamping iron (used by permission of Warren Anatomical Museum, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine).

personality might have changed because his appearance was made grotesque by the accident (e.g., Kotowicz, 2007) no longer seems credible to us.

Conclusion
Our experience reinforces our enthusiasm for the Internet as a vehicle for research and the sharing of information. If we had never posted this image where millions could view it, its subject would probably have remained The Whaler forever. Without the Internet, gathering information and making contact with others knowledgeable about Gage would have

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been much slower and more laborious. For example, e-mail correspondence with Dominic Hall, Curator of the Warren Museum, and Malcolm Macmillan, Department of Psychology, Melbourne University, allowed us to ask questions quickly, accompanied by images. In order to share our find with others who are interested, we have created a Web site with images, a bibliography, and links. The URL is: http://brightbytes.com/phineasgage

References
Bigelow HJ (1850): Dr. Harlows case of recovery from the passage of an iron bar through the head. Am J Med Sci 20: 1222. (Facsimile in Macmillan, 2000, Appendix A.) Damasio AR (1994): Descartes Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain. New York, Putnam Publishing. Damasio H, Grabowski T, Frank R, Galaburda AM, Damasio AR (1994): The return of Phineas Gage: Clues about the brain from the skull of a famous patient. Science 264: 11021105. (Erratum, (1994): Science 265: 1159.) Fleischman J (2002): Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story about Brain Science. Boston, Houghton and Mifflin. Harlow JM (1848): Passage of an iron rod through the head. Bost Med Surg J 39: 389393. (Facsimile in Macmillan, 2000, Appendix A.) Harlow JM (1868): Recovery from the passage of an iron bar through the head. Pub Mass Med Soc 2: 327347. (Facsimile in Macmillan, 2000, Appendix A.) Holmes OW (1864): The stereoscope and the stereograph. In: Soundings from the Atlantic. Boston, Ticknor and Fields. Kotowicz Z (2007): The strange case of Phineas Gage. Hist Hum Sci 20: 115131. Macmillan M (2000): An Odd Kind of Fame: Stories of Phineas Gage. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press. Macmillan M (2008): Phineas Gage: Unravelling the myth. The Psychologist 21: 828839. [Online]. Available: http://www.thepsychologist.org.uk/archive/archive_home.cfm?volumeID=21&edition ID=164&ArticleID=1399 Newhall B (1968): The Daguerreotype in America. Greenwich, CT, New York Graphic Society. Ratiu P, Talos IF (2004): The tale of Phineas Gage, digitally remastered. New Eng J Med 351: e21e21. [Online]. Available: tinyurl.com/59ah3w

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