The skull, life cast, and tamping iron of Phineas Gage Phineas Gage (1823-1860) is one of neurology’s most famous cases. Gage sustained a traumatic brain injury in 1848 when a 3’ 7” inch iron rod fired through his head. The accident cost Gage an eye and altered his personality, but he survived. Gage’s physician, John Harlow (1819-1907), donated the skull and tamping iron to the Warren Anatomical Museum in 1868.