The Babiński sign is one of the most important signs in clinical neurology. It refers to the extension (dorsiflexion) of the great toe following stimulation of the sole. However, in the first description of this sign, Joseph Francois Félix Babiński (1857-1932) did not mention the movement of the great toe, but of all toes. The terms used by Babiński in his first description of the sign is “orteils” (toes, in the plural), and not “grand orteil” (great toe). This article traces back the initial descriptions of the Babiński sign made by the great French neurologist of Polish descent and other influential neurologists of the 19th Century. Contrary to what is commonly believed, the Babiński sign was not described in its complete form from the very beginning: it took some time for its discoverer to fully realize that what characterized the sign was the extension of the great toe alone, and not of all toes.
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