Sitting on the back
of an ox cart, Gage was brought to the boarding house where he was staying on
Main Street in Cavendish. Dr. John Harlow treated his wounds, along with Dr.
Edward H. Williams. The large wound at the top of his head was closed with
adhesive straps and a wet compress covered the opening. No surgery was
involved.
Within days of the
accident, an infection developed and Gage lapsed into a semi comatose state.
Fearing that he was about to die, a local carpenter prepared a coffin for him.
Two weeks after the accident, Harlow released 8 fluid ounces of pus from an
abscess under Gage’s scalp. By January 1, 1849 (approximately 4 months) Gage
was functional.
It is remarkable
that Gage survived this accident, let alone lived for 11 more years.
Fortunately Dr. Harlow and Dr. Henry J. Bigelow, a professor of surgery at
Harvard University, tracked Gage as much possible, thereby documenting one of
the first cases of traumatic brain injury in medical science. It was also the
first understanding that different parts of the brain have different functions.
With this knowledge, the first brain tumor removal operation became possible in
1885.
According to Gage’s
family and friends, his behavior was significantly altered by the accident. In
1868, Harlow wrote in the “Bulletin of the Massachusetts Medical Society” His contractors, who regarded him as
the most efficient and capable foreman in their employ previous to his injury,
considered the change in his mind so marked that they could not give him his
place again. He is fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest
profanity (which was not previously his custom), manifesting but little
deference for his fellows, impatient of restraint of advice when it conflicts
with his desires, at times pertinaciously obstinent, yet capricious and vacillating,
devising many plans of future operation, which are no sooner arranged than they
are abandoned in turn for others appearing more feasible. In this regard, his
mind was radically changed, so decidedly that his friends and acquaintances
said he was “no longer Gage.”
Not able to work as a foreman, Gage held a variety of jobs.
He worked in the livery stable at what is now known as the Hanover Inn in New
Hampshire. In 1852, he boarded a boat in Boston and sailed to Valparaiso,
Chile. While he was there for approximately seven years, and was thought
to have driven coaches and cared for horses, little is know about what he did
there. According to his mother, many ill turns while in Valparaiso,
especially during the last year, and suffered much from hardship and exposure.”
Around 1859, in failing health he went to San Francisco to
live with his family. He worked on a farm in Santa Clara County but returned to his family
when he started having seizures. He died May 21, 1860 from epilepsy.
Rumors circulated that Gage appeared
at Barnum’s American Museum in New York. It would take another Cavendish
doctor, Dr. Gene Bont, almost 160 years later to find proof that Gage did in
fact promote himself as a curiosity. Bont found a poster advertising Gage’s appearance
at Rumford Hall.
To mark the
anniversary of Gage’s accident, the Cavendish Historical Society will hold a
special presentation on Sunday September 15, 2 pm at the Cavendish Historical
Society Museum. As part of this program, there will be a walking tour of the
various sites related to this historic event. FMI: margoc@tds.net 802-226-7807
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