Phineas Gage Information
Psychology
The program for commemorating the 150th. Anniversary of the accident to Phineas Gage was initiated by the Cavendish Chamber of Commerce in 1997. They were joined in their endeavours by the Cavendish Historical Society and the Cavendish Daughters of the American Revolution. They decided that the Anniversary should be marked in Cavendish over the weekend of the 12-13th. of September, 1998 (the accident itself having taken place at 4.30 p.m. on Wednesday 13th. September, 1848). The commemoration Program was planned to be in two parts, a 'Festival of History', to run over both days, and a 'Scientific Program,' eventually The John Martyn Harlow Frontal Lobe Symposium, to be held on the Saturday.
The activities of the first day were thus divided between the various events making up the Festival of History and the John Martyn Harlow Frontal Lobe Symposium. The second day of the Festival of History included a lecture on Gage, the unveiling of the commemorative plaque, and a visit to the site of the accident. A summary of the program on both days is set out below.
On 26th. May, 1998, at the Cavendish Town office, the Governor of Vermont, Dr. Howard Dean, read a proclamation passed by the Vermont State Legislature. The proclamation noted Phineas Gage's survival of his devastating brain injury, went on to stress the role of the brain and the need for extending knowledge of its functions, and noted that a series of special educational events focusing on the importance of the brain were to be held in Cavendish on 13th. September, 1998. It therefore proclaimed that day as Phineas Gage 150th. Anniversary Commemoration Day in Vermont.
The exhibition arranged by the Cavendish Chamber of Commerce included a display of Phineas Gage's skull and tamping iron (on loan from the Warren Museum at Harvard Medical School). The exhibition included photographs, drawings, and publications relevant to Gage's accident.
Tours were conducted by the Cavendish Historical Society to Dr. Harlow's house and the church near it, and the sites of Mr Joseph Adams' tavern where Gage recovered, of the cabinet maker's shop where his coffin was prepared, and the accident itself, some 0.75 miles (1.2 kilometres) south of the town.
A special envelope was isued by the Cavendish Chamber of Commerce to mark the anniversary and the US Postal service made available the special Phineas Gage postmark based on Harlow's illustration of the skull penetrated by the tamping iron (below). Envelopes could be cancelled at a booth on the Town Green
The events program began with a pancake breakfast at Proctorsville FD, and was followed by a parade from Proctorsville to Cavendish where the Festival opened with prayer and music on Cavendish Town Green.
The Green Mountain Rail Road, the successor to the Rutland and Burlington Rail Road on the construction of which Phineas Gage was employed, ran special excursions to the site of the accident.
At various times during the day Tom Sabo (sometimes by himself and sometimes assisted with CTES or friends) performed train songs and told train stories, as well as singing folk songs of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock & CTES manned a bike helmet safety booth.
The American Legion Post provided a BBQ Chicken Lunch and the Cavendish Boy Scout Troop 211 provided Hamburgers and Hot Dogs.
The day's activities included horse and buggy rides; Oxen team; Sheep shearing demonstrations; Wool yarn spinning (Maple Hill Farm); Apple pressing & cider making; other "1800's Life" demonstrations; Children's activities and petting zoo (Elm Valley Farm & Maple Hill Farm).
Crafters, artisans and their wares; Bake sale (Cavendish Baptist Church); Crowley cheese samples (oldest cheese factory in USA); Maple syrup products (Happy Acres Farm & Green Mountain Sugar House)
The John Martyn Harlow Frontal Lobe Symposium was held at Okemo Mountain Lodge Resort, Ludlow, Vermont on Saturday, 12th. September. The Symposium was under the auspices of The World Federation of Neurology, the International Society for the History of the Neurosciences, The School of Psychology, Deakin University, Victoria, Australia, and The Cavendish Chamber of Commerce.
Dr. H. Richard Tyler, Professor of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts was the Symposium Patron.
The program of the Symposium was as follows:
Opening and Session 1, 9:00-10:30. Brain damage and personality change in Phineas Gage
Opening: Dr. H. Richard Tyler
Chair: Prof. Malcolm Macmillan, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Victoria, Australia
Discussants: Dr. Dan Tranel, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa
Dr. H. Richard Tyler
Session 2, 10:45-12:15. The surgical treatment of frontal lobe damage and disease
Chair: Dr. Samuel Greenblatt, Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island, Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Discussants: Dr. Fred Barker II, Tumor Center Neurological Service, Boston General Hospital
Professor James L Stone, Division of Neurosurgery, Cook County Hospital Chicago
Lunch and visit to Cavendish to see Gage's skull and the tamping iron.
Session 3, 2:15-3:45. Diagnosis and rehabilitation in cases of frontal damage
Chair: Dr. Peter Koehler, Department of Neurology, De Wever Hospital, Heerlen, The Netherlands
Discussants: Dr. Sharon McDowell, Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, Philadelphia.
Dr. Catherine Mateer, Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, Vancouver, Canada
Session 4 and Closing, 4:00-5:30. Problems with current methods of studying frontal function
Chair: Professor Malcolm Macmillan
Discussants: Dr. Robert Knight, Department of Neurology, VA Medical Center, Martinez. California
Dr. Arthur P. Shimamura, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley
At 9.30 a.m. in the Stone Church, Cavendish Town, Professor Malcolm Macmillan of the School of Psychology, Deakin University in Victoria, Australia, gave a lecture entitled Restoring Phineas Gage: A 150th. Retrospective. The lecture was devoted to revealing what we do know about Gage and took the form of removing some of the accumulated misunderstandings of Gage and the consequences of his accident.
Before the lecture, Tom Sabo played his guitar and the Rev. Edward H. Williams IV, the great, great, grandson of the Dr. Edward Higginson Williams who was the first medical practioner to reach Gage, spoke briefly before Macmillan's lecture.
The ceremony to unveil the commemorative plaque began at 10.30 a.m. on the Cavendish Town Green. After short speeches by Dr. Denise Natale (Cavendish Chamber of Commerce), and Prof. Malcolm Macmillan (Co-cordinator, Scientific Program), the plaque was unveiled by Dr. Natale, Sandra Stearns (Cavendish Town Selectman), and Prof. Macmillan. State Senators Cheryl Rivers, Richard McCormick, and State Representative Gary Richardson were present.
Day 2 of the Festival of History Program concluded shortly after the unveiling with an informal walk to the site of the accident.
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