Scoliosis

There is an absence of accurate anatomic and physiologic knowledge of the mechanism of production of structural scoliosis. Beginning with Hippocrates, who gave the generic name to any twisted spine, many volumes have been written on the condition that is now known definitely as rotary lateral curvature of the spine. Most of the evidence presented, however, has consisted of end-results of pathologic processes, the causes and starting point of which have been obscured or obliterated in the majority of patients with scoliosis. Excellent experimental work and observations on human and animal subjects that have advanced knowledge of the causes of scoliosis have been done by Lovett, 1 Brackett, 2 Scudder, 3 Schulthess, 4 Wullstein, 5 Arnd, 6 Thompson and Mendel, 7 Muller, 8 Abbott, 9 Bardeen, 10 Bucholz and Osgood, 11 Kleinberg, 12 Wilson, 13 Steindler, 14 Bohm, 15 Feiss, 16 Nathan, 17 Buchmann 18 and Calve. 19 The