Moving tintype image of acromegaly showing much of the gigantism characteristic of this disease: enlarged skull, clubbed fingers, protruding brow ridge, thickened ears, nose, lips and eyelids, and coarsened skin. The poor woman would not have known the cause of these physiological changes nor did she have access to medical treatment. At the time of the photo session she was at least 15 years into the progression of the malady and was developing a goitre. From the manner of her dress, it is probable that she was a working woman, perhaps a laundress or chambermaid, and so could not afford the expense of a daguerrotype. The absence of vanity is striking. Something in the disease compelled her to have this portrait made and to make a legacy of the weight it put on her life.