Prominent Poles
Joseph Jules François Félix Babinski (aka Jozef Juliusz Franciszek Feliks Babiński) French-Polish neurologist; author of Babinski’s method
Born: November 2, 1857, Paris, France
Died: October 29, 1932, Paris, France
Summary. Babinski was one of a handful of French neurologists and other medical scientists who made Hôpital de Salpêtrière in Paris a world famous medical centre in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He was the co-originator of contemporary neurology and neurosurgery. He was the author or coauthor of: Anton-Babinski syndrome, Babinski’s method, Babinski’s sign (pathological plantar reflex indicative of corticospinal tract damage), Babinski’s syndrome, Babinski- Frohlich syndrome, Babinski- Froment syndrome, Babinski-Nageotte syndrome.
Early days. His father, Aleksander Babinski, an engineer, joined in 1848 a new wave of Polish immigrants to France, fleeing the Russian terror. His mother was Henriette Waren(?). From 1862 to 1870 his father worked as a construction engineer in Lima, Peru. Joseph and his brother Henri attended a Polish school in the Boulevard des Batignoles. After matriculation Joseph started the medical studies. In 1879, having finished the elementary part of his medical education Babinski obtained a junior hospital position as "interne des hôpitaux" in Bicętre. In the same year Babinski became Charcot`s "chef de clinique" in Salpetriere Hospital. At the time Jean-Martin Charcot, one of the world’s most known neurologists was at the summit of his fame.
Babinski received his medical degree from the University of Paris in 1884. In 1890 he successfully competed in the examination for the rank of Médecin des Hôpitaux de Paris. In 1892 he took the highly competitive examination for "aggregation" and failed in the atmosphere of a scandal. Regrettably intrigues played a role in it.
Professional career. Charcot's death left Babinski without support, and he subsequently never participated at qualifying competitions for "professeur agrégé". Instead, in 1895, he became a head of department for 100 patients in the neighbouring Hôpital de la Pitié, where he worked until his retirement in 1922.
Blessing in disguise. Babinski's failure to climb the academic ladder was to become of fundamental importance to French neurology. Lacking an academic position he was passed over for appointments and lacked the opportunity to establish his own school. Babinski was, though, a member of the Académie de médecine from 1914. Free of teaching duties, Babinski’s work at the Hôpital de la Pitié left him ample time to devote himself to the symptomatology of neurology. In 1900 Babinski described the adiposo-genital syndrome in a case of pituitary tumor, a condition still termed Babinski-Fröhlich syndrome. In 1902, with Jean Nageotte (1866-1948) he described the clinical symptoms caused by lesions in the postero-lateral part of pons, a complex of symptoms that still bears the name Babinski-Nageotte syndrome. In 1905 he described with insight the neurophysiological background of tabes dorsalis. He concerned himself with the pathology of the cerebellum and introduced the terms ataxia and dysdiakonesia as cardinal symptoms of cerebral lesions.
Farewell to hysteria. In the footsteps of Charcot, Babinski also took an interest in the pathogenesis of hysteria and was the first to present acceptable differential diagnostical criteria for separating hysteria from organic diseases. Charcot thought he had discovered a new disease he called "hystero-epilepsy," a disorder of mind and brain combining features of hysteria and epilepsy. The patients displayed a variety of symptoms, including convulsions, contortions, fainting, and transient impairment of consciousness.
Babinski decided that Charcot had invented rather than discovered hystero-epilepsy. The patients had come to the hospital with vague complaints of distress and demoralization. Charcot had persuaded them that they were victims of hystero-epilepsy and should join the others under his care. Charcot's interest in their problems, the encouragement of attendants, and the example of others on the same ward prompted patients to accept Charcot's view of them and eventually to display the expected symptoms.
Babinski eventually persuaded Charcot that doctors could induce a variety of physical and mental disorders, especially in young, emotionally troubled women. There was no "hystero-epilepsy." These patients were afflicted not by a disease but by an idea. With this understanding, Charcot and Babinski devised a two-stage treatment consisting of isolation and counter suggestion.
Babinski's sign. In 1896, at a meeting of the Société de Biologie Babinski for the first time reported his "phenomène des orteils", i.e. the discovery that while the normal reflex of the sole of the foot consists of a plantar reflex of the toes, an injury to the pyramidal tract will show up in an isolated dorsal flexion of the great toe - Babinski's sign.
In its simplicity, clinical importance, and physiological implications, Babinski’s sign has hardly an equal in medicine. Two years later he published, in La Semaine médicale, a particularly complete description of the phenomena exemplified by case stories of patients with hemiplegia, Jackson's epilepsy, encephalitis and strychnine poisoning. Diagnostics of tumors in the spinal canal. At the turn of the century many attempts were made to surgically operate tumors in the spinal canal, but mostly the laminectomies were made at the wrong level - too low. In 1910 Babinski demonstrated that a careful study of sensibility conducted according to specified principles without exception led to a correct diagnosis of level. These observations were subsequently proved right.
In 1911 Babinski diagnosed a tumor in the spinal canal and sent the patient to Victor Horsley.
Rebirth of French neurosurgery. Through his student Clovis Vincent, later to become a famous neurosurgeon, Babinski became acquainted with Thierry de Martel, who declared himself willing to operate the next patient with a suspected spinal tumor. When Babinski towards the end of 1911 diagnosed a third such case, he therefore remitted his patient to Martel - who successfully removed a tumor in the spinal canal - localized exactly as foretold by Babinski.
Babinski was one of the founders and the president of the Société de Neurologie. In 1914 he became the member of the Academy of Medicine. He was honored by the American Neurological Society and several other foreign societies. After the First World War he visited Poland many times.
Joseph Babinski died on December 13th 1932. The last years of his life he suffered from Parkinson's disease, but lived to see his achievements in French neurology internationally acknowledged.
Babinski’s obituary in The Lancet ended with the following words: "None of Charcot's pupils is surer to be remembered for his achievements in the field of neurology." Babinski is buried in the Polish Cimetière des Champeaux at Montmorency, about 13 km north of Paris, France.
Babinski’s bibliography contains 288 items
This is a shortened version of an article written by Ole Daniel Enersen
Enersen's article
copied and modified with the author’s permission.
Other sources:
Oficyna
Univ.of Illinois
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