1867 | San Francisco: Six years after Phineas died, David Shattuck dug up his grave so they could send his skull and tamping iron, the 13-pound bar that shot through his frontal lobe, to a Harvard museum, where it remains on display.
David describes...
In 1848, while working as a crew foreman for the Rutland & Burlington Railroad in Vermont, twenty-five-year-old Phineas Gage had a tragic accident that made him infamous. While tamping black powder into a borehole, his custom-made 13-lb rod stuck a stone and made a spark that sent the bar through Phineas's head.
He lived.
One of the doctors who treated his wounds wrote about the case and published it in a medical journal. Losing touch with his patient for the next eighteen years, he wrote to Phineas's mother. Upon learning of his patent's death, he made an appeal, "Would you consider making a contribution to science?"
Mother Gage agreed and asked her daughter's husband. (Note: the photo below is a public domain image, not an actual photo of David D. Shattuck.)
San Francisco 1867
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On a misty morning in November, I found myself in the Lone Mountain Cemetery looking down at my brother-in-law's tombstone. Doctor Coon and Doctor J.B.D. Stillman stood at my side, each with a shovel in hand.
Guards stood at the closed entrance gates affording us privacy.
Coats came off as digging commenced. At first, I felt that I was committing an unforgivable sin. But as my back strained and my hands developed blisters, those feelings subsided, until my shovel made contact with something solid.
The other two paused, nodding to one another, then resumed. Once space was clear, the two doctors were about to lift the coffin lid when I interrupted. "Wait! Gentlemen, please bear with my squeamishness. Before you open it, would you prepare me for what I am about to see?"
Doctor Coon looked uncomfortable. He glanced at Doctor Stillman who replied, "Why, David, you need not see anything."
"No," I disagreed firmly. "I promised my wife that I would follow it through to the end."
"She never needs to know," Doctor Coon replied softly.
"I'll know. Please, just tell me."
Author's Note:
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