It was not until 1995 that the International Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Study Group agreed on criteria for the definition of the diagnosis of Restless Legs Syndrome,1although the clinical features of the "syndrome which causes such suffering that it should be known by every physician"2had been known for several centuries. However, it was not until the 20th Century that it was recognized as an independent neurological disorder. This article cites a number of quotations from the early history of RLS to the beginning of the 20th Century when the Swedish Neurologist Karl Ekbom3-8investigated the syndrome extensively and presented the broad clinical picture of the disease for the first time.