Fruits of Philosophy

The Fruits of Philosophy, or the Private Companion of Young Married People is a book published in January 1832 by the doctor Charles Knowlton , which summarized the then available knowledge about conception and contraception . It was the first accessible book on the subject that also provided information on medical issues. It described u. a. Methods for the treatment of infertility and impotence and a method of contraception developed by Charles Knowlton: Postcoital washing of the vagina with a special chemical solution.

The book was initially only distributed on loan to the patients in his practice. Knowlton was then fined.

The free thinker and theologian Abner Kneeland brought a second edition into circulation, which was far more widely used. Knowlton was then sentenced to three months of forced labor and Kneeland was tried twice without success.

The first three editions were small-format and intended for private use, not for visible display in libraries. A new edition by Charles Bradlaugh and Annie Besant , worried about in 1877 , also led to a high-profile court case against both in England.

literature

The Fruits of Philosophy, or the Private Companion of Young Married People , anonym 1832, in 2. A. with attribution 1833, 10. A. 1877; Reprints u. a .: with a preface by Charles Bradlaugh and Annie Wood Besant 1878; Bradlaugh-Besant 1891, online at archive.org ; Nabu Press 2010.

Individual evidence

↑ Cf. on this z. BSJW Tabor: "The Late Charles Knowlton, MD", in: The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal 45/6 (1851), online at Google Books , p. 109ff, with an autobiographical foreword by Knowlton to the case studies he has collected; Sripati Chandrasekhar: Reproductive physiology and birth control : the writings of Charles Knowlton and Annie Besant, Transaction Publishers 2002.
↑ See e.g. B. Chandrasekhar, 23; Norman E. Himes: Medical History of Contraception , New York: Schocken Books 1970. WL Langer: The origins of the birth control movement in England in the early nineteenth century , in: The Journal of interdisciplinary history 5/4 (1975), 669 -686, PMID 11619426 .
^ Farrell Brodie: Contraception and Abortion in Nineteenth-Century America , Cornell University Press 1997, ISBN 0801484332 , p. 105.

[1] Cf. on this z. BSJW Tabor: "The Late Charles Knowlton, MD", in: The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal 45/6 (1851), online at Google Books , p. 109ff, with an autobiographical foreword by Knowlton to the case studies he has collected; Sripati Chandrasekhar: Reproductive physiology and birth control : the writings of Charles Knowlton and Annie Besant, Transaction Publishers 2002.

[2] See e.g. B. Chandrasekhar, 23; Norman E. Himes: Medical History of Contraception , New York: Schocken Books 1970. WL Langer: The origins of the birth control movement in England in the early nineteenth century , in: The Journal of interdisciplinary history 5/4 (1975), 669 -686, PMID 11619426 .

[3] Farrell Brodie: Contraception and Abortion in Nineteenth-Century America , Cornell University Press 1997, ISBN 0801484332 , p. 105.