 The condition was first described by Gerhard Engel in 1864 and Friedrich Daniel von Recklinghausen in 1890 , though William Hunter , who died in 1783 , is credited with finding the first example of the disease . " von Recklinghausen 's disease " ( without the qualification " of bone " ) is a completely unrelated disorder , nowadays termed neurofibromatosis . In 1884 , Davies Colley delivered a presentation to the Pathological Society of London that detailed the manifestation of hyperparathyroidism into a brown tumor of the mandible , as well as the histological makeup of the tumor . 
