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, 1 although the clinical features of the syndrome which causes such suffering that it should be known by every physician' 2 had 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 Ekbom 3-8 investigated the syndrome extensively and presented the broad clinical picture of the disease for the first time.