How did the case of phineas gage doctors to better understand the human brain? (don't forget the race strategy! r-restate the question, a-answer the question, c- cite evidence, e-explain how the evidence supports your answer) *

To answer the question of how Phineas Gage' brain accident helped Doctors better understand the human brain and in a more general sense the human mind, first we need to know some details about the case.

In September 1848 the life of a young worker of the train rails turned around forever due to a working accident. Phineas' work consisted on blowing up rocks using explosives using black powder. It was because of that that the accident took place.

The accident of Phineas is important because it changed the way doctors, more specifically neurologists; see the human brain and their functions. Before the accident and the later documentation of it, doctors had never associated the physical aspects of the brain to behavior, emotions and the "soul". They had never linked that the emotions and actions could be affected by specific parts of the brain.

Here we have evidence to support these assumptions:

"The damage to Gage’s frontal cortex caused by the iron rod seems to have resulted in a loss of social inhibitions. The role of the frontal cortex in social cognition and decision making is now well-recognized; in the 19th century, however, neurologists were only just beginning to realize these connections. Gage’s injuries provided some of the first evidence that the frontal cortex was involved in personality and behavior."

As we can read in the citation above, it was due to Gage's accident that the doctors started to link to a specific area of the brain, the Frontal Cortex, to behavioral changes.

1. read the following excerpt from franklin d. roosevelt's "fireside chat 19":

on the other side of the picture, we must learn also to know that guerilla warfare against the germans in, let us say serbia or norway, us; that a successful russian offensive against the germans us; and that british successes on land or sea in any part of the world strengthen our hands.

remember always that germany and italy, regardless of any formal declaration of war, consider themselves at war with the united states at this moment just as much as they consider themselves at war with britain or russia. and germany puts all the other republics of the americas into the same category of enemies. the people of our sister republics of this hemisphere can be honored by that fact.  

the true goal we seek is far above and beyond the ugly field of battle. when we resort to force, as now we must, we are determined that this force shall be directed toward ultimate good as well as against immediate evil. we americans are not destroyers — we are builders.

analyze the effectiveness of this excerpt. how does it function within the speech as a whole? how does the structure of the excerpt to convey the speech's purpose and key points? support your argument with evidence from the speech. (10 points)