The Sign of Babinski: A Study of the Evolution of Cortical Dominance in Primates.

This expensive monograph on a single neurologic sign will hardly interest any one besides the clinical neurologist. The expense of the book is no doubt largely due to the illustrations. The value and necessity perhaps of using the primates in the prosecution of neurologic studies of human significance is emphasized. The authors furthermore have "attempted a systematic comparison of human reflexes, normal and pathological, with the corresponding reactions in representatives below man." In this experimental study, monkeys, baboons, gibbons and chimpanzees were used. These studies showed "that destruction of pyramidal pathways in lower primates such as the macaque and mangabey does not cause Babinski's sign to appear; in intermediate primates such as the baboon the plantar reflex is altered on destruction of the pyramidal pathways, and in the highest forms, including the chimpanzee and man, a small cortical lesion restricted to the motor representation of the lower extremity gives rise