Talk:Phineas Gage/to do


 * Labor relations, contractor/sucontractor, blasting skill: Macmillan 2000 discusses (a) Gage's status as a (sub?)contractor; (b) volatility of labor relations in contemporary RR construction; (c) the skill required in blasting -- relate to Gage's preaccident character, personality, and skill.


 * More on accident itself: A feedback item requested more on "how it happened":
 * ✅ Not easy because Harlow and Bigelow (and people quoted by them) are slightly discrepant on this (was the sand omitted? was he speaking to his men? where was he sitting?) [Added re turned head etc, simply omitted the (minor) postural points on which Harlow/Bigelow disagree. EEng (talk)]
 * ✅ In relation to this, more on the mechanics of blasting would help (there are plenty of out-of-copyright blasting manuals -- e.g. from DuPont -- that can be used). [diagram added, some EEng (talk)]
 * ❌ Other comments imply need to be more explicit that the iron passed through (i.e. wasn't lodged). [Text seems clear on this if they read to bit re iron found far away. EEng (talk)]


 * ✅ Re "Crowbar": Confusion re connotation of a crowbar as having a hook/claw, variation on meaning of this term according to time and place -- still needs clarification. This may require some work on the articles on crowbar, pry bar etc. [Linked article's treatment seems adequate. EEng (talk)]


 * Re phrase "American Crowbar Case": Barker suggests that the frequency with which this term appears in 19th c literature reflects the ascendency of Bigelow's interpretation of the case, since he (and not Harlow) described Gage's iron as a "crowbar".
 * The specific origin of that specific phrase should be added to the article if possible.


 * "Bigelow describes the iron's taper as seven inches long, but the correct dimension is twelve": See whether modern catalog has this info


 * ✅ "the best fit rod trajectory did not result in the iron crossing the midline as has been suggested by some authors" (such as H.Damasio) Need cite here both to H Damasio and to Van Horn's cite to it


 * General review of Van Horn Table 3 for material usable in article


 * Find material on missing molar such as Harlow 1868 p.17, Van Horn (several points)


 * ✅ "Gage certainly displayed some kind of change in behavior after his injury" [r|macm_rehabilitating|page=12-15] Likely other papers + Macmillan 2000 can be cited here a well EEng (talk)]


 * "Gage was hired by his employer in advance":
 * Need to check that cites given here cover this: "report was discovered calling Gage mentally unimpaired during his last years in Chile ... and since then a description of what may have been his daily work routine there as a stagecoach driver, and advertisements for two previously unknown public appearances"
 * More info/cites in Macmillan Gagepage, "Unanswered Questions", Wilgus, "Meet Phineas Gage"; and/or Wilgus/Macmillan "More about Gage"


 * In brain damage discussion, add Macmillan 2000, 2008; van horn p.14 re chain of brain damage uncertainties (blood loss, infection, bone fragments, path, position of brain, individual locations of regions)
 * Greenblatt Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 2001, 75, 798-799 and (apparently a different paper)
 * Macmillan 2000 p.82, 84
 * Bone fragments, infection etc. also mentioned at OKF p.469
 * Bring in discussion (Macmillan 2008) re the importance of the hinging effect in minimizing concussive effects -- this might be integrated with Harlow's quote re the shape of the iron and reasons for Gage's survival. ❌ Your humble colleague (I) has made a thorough search and cannot find this passage, which he concludes he may have hallucinated. EEng (talk)
 * Ordia, JI (1989). "Neurologic function seven years after crowbar impalement of the brain". Surgical Neurology 32: 152–155 discusses  significance of projectile speeds below 1000 ft/sec in reduced concussive damage.


 * combined with the lack of information about his behavioral changes In addition to Macmillan 2000 p.290 there are likely additional Macmillan references on lack of info on behavioral changes; maybe Barker too


 * "managed to enlist Gage in support of their theories": Material at Macmillan 2000 p.188 should be brought in as well


 * Ferrier cited Gage as proof that it is [i.e. the brain is localized]:
 * In addition to Ferrier cite this section could use cites re conflicting claims on whether frontal lobes do or don't have any function
 * Localization and frontal function are the main 19th C tugs-of-war; there may be parallels in the 20th C as well


 * Re lobotomy non-relationship to Gage, see Macmillan 2000 cites to Valenstein
 * material from Valenstein may be useful here as well


 * ✅ (EEng (talk)) Harlow (1868)[r|harlow1868] gives the date of Gage's death as May 21, 1861: Need pg#


 * American Phrenological J: could use more material from Macmillan 2000 pp.349-50 re similarities to Harlow 1848 etc.

Items taken Sept 2015 from hidden notes in source:


 * For description of tamping iron, see material from Warren Mus. catalog, "smoothly blunt" point, etc.


 * Re the report that Gage's jaw was broken, the cites given may be duplicative; also, a secondary source describing the path of the iron in laymen's terms would be useful; also see Bigelow re coronoid process


 * There are slight conflicts among sources re punctuation and formatting of the tamping iron inscription


 * For Gage's "lecture" appearances, other potential cites are Meet Phineas Gage (Wilgus), More About Gage (Macmillan on Wilgus site), Unanswered Qs in Macmillan 2008


 * ✅ The images File:Simulated Connectivity Damage of Phineas Gage 4 vanHorn PathwaysDamaged left.jpg and File:Simulated Connectivity Damage of Phineas Gage 4 vanHorn PathwaysDamaged right.jpg should be combined into a single image, with one caption. EEng (talk)]


 * "The use of a single case [including Gage's] to prove opposing views on phrenology was not uncommon." Bring in fact that Harlow knew Gage before the accident, and possibly class-based expectations re social behavior.


 * Cerebral location section needs expansion


 * "both sides managed to enlist Gage in support of their theories" Bring in additional material from Macmillan 2000 p.188


 * Ferrier "absolutely dominating feature": Check page #s in {{ran|M5|p=198,253}; add material on basic question of whether frontal regions have any function at all; add more re Goulstonian Lecture's effect on opinion about Gage


 * "It is frequently said that what happened to Gage played a part in the later development of various forms of psychosurgery" Give specific examples of people saying this, plus mention Freeman's use of Gage story as a delay tactic with reporter


 * "Macmillan{ran|M|p=116-19,326,331} gives detailed criticism of Antonio Damasio's various presentations of Gage": See notes in Macmillan 2000 for pages cited, and other Macmillan papers may be useful on this as well; specify which of AD's works


 * Would be nice to have an img of the lifemask at the point it's mentioned.


 * "as could hardly have been done by any one in whose sagacity and surgical knowledge his 'confreres had any less confidence": further background on this should be available in Macmillan 2000 and Barker, possibly Macmillan, "John Martyn Harlow"


 * "A considerable number of medical gentlemen also visited the case at various times to satisfy their incredulity": {ran|M|p=42} page range may need expanding. Possibly this note could be integrated into the main text.


 * Some of the pdfs hosted at Countway/Warren Mus. site could be uploaded to Commons


 * Pagination problems:
 * Add pg #s to Ordia, Mitchell sources
 * Add pg #s to Wilgus (2009, J Hist Neurosci), Wilgus (2009, Daguerreian Soc.), Twomey cites
 * Harlow 1868: Journal version (seen in Macmillan 2000) versus offprint (seen in Commons images) (also need issue # in citation)
 * Macmillan 2008: version linked from the citation doesn't match the pagination from the version available as an offprint from publisher's website


 * Citations need checking (most can be found in Macmillan 2000):
 * ✅ (EEng (talk)) rename=anonymous_C: Macmillan 2000 p.40n7 gives reprint information
 * Ref name=ferrier1877_9: check format and citation data
 * ✅ (EEng (talk)) Harlow 1848: Harlow 1868 cites this as #20 of volume 39, but this needs confirmation
 * Jackson 1849: Give location in Macmillan 2000 where this is imaged or transcribed; get page # and check case # (and other details) of citation
 * ✅ (EEng (talk)) Harlow 1849: Need specific date
 * ✅ (EEng (talk)) Macmillan 2008: Check volume and issue #
 * ✅ (EEng (talk)) Re "public appearances in the larger New England towns": Add Gage's visit to Bigelow in Boston and his presentation to the Boston Society for Medical Improvement (described in Macmillan 2000)
 * ✅ (EEng (talk)) It was the first likeness of Gage identified since the life mask taken by Bigelow in late 1849.: Check the date of the life mask and that cites cover "by Bigelow"
 * ✅(EEng (talk)) Re Ratiu discussion of hole at base of cranium and "skull hinged open": Possibly this should be discussed in main text (instead of note) -- notice there is (or was) an image illustrating the "hinging".
 * ✅ (EEng (talk)) The '1850 communication calling Gage "gross, profane, coarse, and vulgar should be added to the source list
 * ✅ (EEng (talk)) "Most commentators still rely on hearsay and accept what others have said about Gage, namely, that after the accident he became a psychopath..." [r|kotowicz] Need page #
 * ✅ (EEng (talk)) "Attributes typically ascribed to the post-accident Gage" [etc etc]: Each of these needs a cite (most are in Macmillan 2008 or 2000 -- or Kotowicz)
 * ✅ (EEng (talk)) Harlow's relocation to Woburn should be mentioned. Sources: Macmillan 2000, Macmillan "Simple Country Physician"
 * ✅ (EEng (talk)) The 1994 conclusion of H. Damasio et al., that both frontal lobes were damaged, was drawn by modeling not Gage's skull but rather a "Gage-like" one: Explain the "Gage-like" similarity issue
 * ✅ Identify issue of Recovery from the passage of an iron bar through the head; Someone added a note in the wikitext: "something somewhere says n3 of v2"
 * Would it make sense to add a geo coord for the accident site?


 * Some of the subpage titles for the Phineas Gage Information Page seem to be out of date.


 * Cites in lead for "perhaps the first case to suggest that damage to specific parts of the brain might induce specific personality change", and those later for 'Gage is considered the "index case for personality change due to frontal lobe damage", are presumably saying much the same thing, so see about integrating them.


 * In this version, cites in lead re brain vs. personality, and injury to specific parts of brain vs. specific personality changes, need to be sorted out as to which cites are for which of those two
 * Maybe add some specific popcult examples
 * More could be said about Harlow's ideas re vis vitae, vis conservatrix, vis medicatrix naturae etc. (OKF p.58)
 * Nye cite apparently has the wrong author -- he seems to be the volume editor. The page #s need checking as well.


 * ✅ JBS Jackson, "Medical Cases" is quoted as terming Gage "quite feeble and thin", but this is not reported in Macmillan 2000, p.93 -- check original. (Original MS checked.)