Babinski and his sign

Abstract

Ninety years ago Joseph Francois Felix Babinski described the reflex of dorsiflexion of the great toe on stimulation of the sole of the foot. This brief but historic report consisted of only 28 lines and was given at a meeting of the Société de Biologie de Paris, February 22, 1986, entitled "On the cutaneous plantar reflex in certain organic affections of the central nervous system".
No other sign has ever had as great an influence on the field of neurology as this report its simplicity, clinical importance and physiological implications; this reflex probably has no equal. However, the Babinski reflex did not immediately receive international recognition Babinski himself contributes two more reports that further elucidate the phenomenon and said that "this sign indicates the presence of a pyramidal system disturbance, does not denote its severity. At times it can even be the only sign indicating such a disturbance.
There are many neurologists which have been described some little variations of the Babinski sign; but they are just minimal variations that have the denomination of equivalents of the Babinski sign, and they are not significant, such as Oppenheim, Schaefer, Gordon, Gonda, etc.
We must learn of Babinski his extraordinary clinical sense.