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Date: | Thu, 24 Aug 1995 23:54:02 -0600 |
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MM> From: Christopher Whittle <[log in to unmask]>
MM> Subject: Re: exhibits on the brain and mental health
MM> On the mental health side, the Harvard Medical School museum has a
MM> display of Phineas T. Gage's skull. Mr. Gage was tamping dynamite
MM> with a long steel rod when the dynamite exploded propelling the rod
MM> through his skull. The label explains that Mr. Gage recovered
completely
MM> except for his new predisposition to swear frequently. This is a much
MM> viewed exhibit and people typically read the whole label. You may
have
MM> seen Mr. Gage's skull in Discover or some other scientific popular
magazine.
Ironically, A. Damasio, a renowned neurobiologist at U. Iowa (not far, I
assume, from Iowa City) features Phineas Gage & his brain injury in his
recent book _Descartes' Error_, a very decent attempt to explain to those
of us who are not neurobiologists, how his research and that of others
sheds light on the old mind-body problem. It's also a great discussion of
Gage's injury and the use of a century-old medical mystery to illuminate
new ones and answer some questions. This is just FYU, although such an
approach to an exhibit would be a keen one, in my humble opinion.
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