The relationship of the spinal cord to scoliosis.

The authors present an original description of the tethered spinal cord. This submission in its day was not welcomed by the contemporaries of Dr. Robert Heimburger who theorized that there may be an association between the tethered spinal cord and scoliosis. Today we know that abnormal curvatures of the spinal cord can result from distal abnormal tensions placed on the spinal cord. This historical paper, now printed in full, may very well be one of the earliest descriptions of this association. It offers a unique window into the early cause-and-effect thinking regarding this neurosurgical lesion.