A study of the literature reveals that many authors reject Kocher's method entirely, many more advise various "modifications", and a still larger number have offered new methods of reduction, most of them involving traction. Clinical, roentgenographic, and autopsy evidence does not support Kocher's beliefs as to the rôle played by the muscles, the capsule, and the greater tubercle of the humerus in dislocation of the shoulder. Kocher's method for reducing dislocation of the shoulder may well be omitted from the textbooks and more physiological methods substituted.