Cadwalader, T.  An Essay on the West-India Dry-Gripes (1745).

A prominent Philadelphia physician, Thomas Cadwalader (1708-1779) wrote a classical account of lead colic and lead palsy.  Philadelphians were drinking large quantities of punch made with Jamaican rum, which was distilled through lead pipes, leading to the "dry-gripes," or lead poisoning.  The suggested method of "curing" the disease was through the us of mild cathartics and opium and opposed to the usual treatment of mercury and purgatives.  The "extraordinary case" of the complete title was a case of osteomalacia (inadequate mineralization of bone).  Cadwalader's autopsy of the patient is one of the earliest recorded in the United States.  His Essay is probably the first medical book containing significant original research to be published by an American physician in America.

The Essay has a remarkable history in itself.  Cadwalader's friend and publisher Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) lost the manuscript in 1738.  Only in 1745 was it found.  Cadwalader then wrote a preface that was defensive and rambling.  It was perhaps Franklin who suggested that another preface be written, the one eventually published with the book.  The College's copy of the Essay contains the only known printed version of the first preface, bound with a first edition of the book.  The College also owns the original manuscript, donated by Fellow S. Weir Mitchell (1829-1914).  The Essay is one of the true treasures of the College.  The entire book has been scanned and is mounted in the HMDL.  One unfortunate feature of the original preface is that it was used for "scrap" paper to take notes and do arithmetic. 

(Sources:  Garrison & Morton; College of Physicians Archives)