From the earliest times, scoliosis has been written about and described in such a way as to make it the most complex subject in orthopedics. It would seem that if the explanations and descriptions could be reduced to simpler terms, the principles of treatment would be fewer and simpler, even though the ultimate results were still difficult of attainment. Rational treatment of any disease or abnormal condition is founded directly on etiology and pathology. In these later days, physiology is a little better known and is becoming of tremendous importance in giving a clearer understanding of many conditions. In the first place, there must be a decision as to whether scoliosis is a deformity unaccompanied by disease of the structures involved, or whether there is a diseased condition of the bones and ligaments. My studies have convinced me that the bones and ligaments in these cases are in a softened