Paget's disease in a painting by Quinten Metsys (Massys)

BrMedJf 1989;299:1579-81 It is now nearly 120 years since Wilks' described the condition that Sir James Paget called "osteitis deformans."2 Although Paget considered that he was describing a new disease, the fact that he was able to collect data on 23 cases during his lifetime suggests that it was an established condition. On 13 December 1882 in the Bradshaw lecture "On some rare and new diseases" at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Paget stated that he could not find any specimens ofold bones in the London museums or described in any catalogue that resembled those in osteitis deformans. Since then, however, several ancient and prehistoric specimens have been reported to show the effects of Paget's disease: a parietal bone found in an ancient Egyptian tomb,3 remains of a skull dating from the Gallo-Roman period,4 and a femur dating from the neolithic period.5 The peculiar shape of some