Reflexes de defense. By J. Babinski, Brain 1922: 45; 149-184; with The physiological significance of the reflex phenomena in spastic paralysis of the lower limbs. By F. M. R. Walshe, Brain 1914: 37; 269-336; and The Babinski plantar response, its forms, and its physiological and pathological significance. By F. M. R. Walshe, Brain 1956: 79; 529-556.

Abstract

Joseph Felix Francois Babinski (1857–1932; Fig. 1) published only a single article in Brain . This was the text of a lecture delivered at the Royal Society of Medicine, London, ‘with presentation of cases and cinematograph films’. At the time Babinski was 65-years-old and had just relinquished his position as chief physician at the Pitie hospital. Probably, the occasion of his London lecture was intended as a tribute to the man who, having floundered decades before in the politicized rat race of Parisian academia, had devoted most of his career to a persistent study of neurological signs. This had culminated in the discovery of the ‘toe phenomenon’ (‘ phenomene des orteils’ ) in 1896. Babinski’s main motive had been to distinguish organic disease from what was then called hysterical paralysis (conversion disorder in current parlance). Figure 1 Joseph Felix Francois Babinski (1857–1934), in his 60s (from Science Photo Library). The printed text of Babinski’s lecture contains no illustrations, but the lack of images is more than made up for by its lyrical aspects: it is the only article ever published in Brain in the French language, and one of the very few to start with a literary quotation. Babinski’s opening paragraph reads: ‘GENTLEMEN - I happen to have overheard the telling of the following anecdote: The great Spanish knight to whom Cervantes has dedicated his book Don Quichote , is travelling in France and arrives at a late hour in a village, where he plans to spend the night. He rings the bell at an inn, where the owner, before opening the door, demands to know whom he is dealing with. The nobleman recounts his names: Duke of Bejar, Marquess of Gibraleon, Count of Banalcazar and Banares, Viscount of Puebla de Alcocer, Sire of the villages of Capilla, Curiel and Burguillos. The innkeeper, …