I am readin the book "Phineas Gage" the book is by John Fleischman. The book is about a man in 1848 who worked as a construction foreman. He became famouse for having had a thirteen-pound iron rod shot through is head, and making a hole right through is head but not killing him. Phineas Gage lived with the hole in his head for eleven years. Yet the accident change Phineas forever. He was no longer the Phineas that his friends, family and co-workers knew. The story teaches you what happened in Phineas's brain, what made him a diffrent man and how it all relates to where the rode hit and how the brain functions.
So far i have laerned what doctors in the 1800's knew about the brain and what they came up with. I have found out about the two groups of people and their ideas on how the brain functions. Both of the groups plan to use Phineas as a way to prove their point. He had becaome the talk of all the doctors. I have also been introduced to a few terms that are used for the brain as well as alot of its functions. It explains the brain alot.
I have chosen a quote from the book. I have chosen this specific quote because I think it shows how important our brain is in our life and how we don't even relize all that it does for us. Here is the quote it is from page 27, 2nd paragraph "The brain stem keeps many of our automatic functions going, like your breathing and heartbeat. The neck flap covers your cerebellum, which corrdinates movement. Without your cerebellum, you couldn't walk upright, touch your finger to your nose or turn this page. Without your brain stem, you couldn't breath. without your cerebral cortex, you couldn't be human.
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Yes, it is very interesting to know that there are so many organs (eg. the appendix, the pancreas, even one kidney, or one lung!) that you could live without. Where as one organ, the brain, controls everything, and without it, we would just be a mass of bones and flesh withouta purpose or reason for being there, except maybe, if someone left us in the middle of the floor, someone might trip over us...
That's really interesting! What has changed in Phineas' behavior so far, if anything? The part about both groups of scientists wanting to use him to prove their point is fascinating and sad, as that sort of thing happens all too often in the world, where we seem to forget that people are human, and not simply objects to prove our theories.
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