Am  Jour.  Phaem.  1 
May  1,  1873.  J 
Editorial. 
251 
Laws,  it  should  be  remembered,  cannot  alter  men  ;  that  is  a  question  of  time 
and  of  the  correct  use  of  the  educational  means  at  our  command  ;  if  these  are 
judiciously  employed,  we  believe  that  the  progress  of  pharmacy  in  the  United 
States  will, in  the  future,  be  even  more  marked  than  it  has  been  during  the  last 
three  or  four  decades. 
Articles  of  Immoral  Use. — Our  readers  are  undoubtedly  aware  that  an  act 
of  Congress  forbids  the  sending  by  mail  of  obscene  articles  ;  but  how  far  phar- 
macists and  druggists  may  be  affected  thereby  is  probably  not  generally  known, 
and  we  should  hardly  believe  it  possible,  if  we  had  not  learned  from  a  reliable 
source,  that  recently  an  apothecary  was  found  guilty,  and  fined  under  this  act, 
for  no  other  offence  than  that  of  having  sent  by  mail  a  female  syringe. 
The  conviction  was  based  upon  the  literal  construction  of  the  law,  though  it 
is  scarcely  possible  that  the  judgment  should  not  be  reversed  if  the  case  was 
carried  to  a  higher  tribunal. 
Below  we  give  a  coyy  of  the  section  in  question,  the  portion  italicized  being 
the  one  under  which  the  conviction  took  place,  and  under  which  almost  any 
article  sent  by  mail  might  be  condemned. 
An  Act  for  the  suppression  of  trade  in,  and  circulation  of,  obscene  literature 
and  articles  of  immoral  use,  approved  March  3,  1873. 
Be  it  enacted,  etc., 
Section  2.  That  Section  148  of  the  act  to  revise,  consolidate  and  amend  the 
statutes  relating  to  the  Post-Office  Department,  approved  June  8th,  1872,  be 
amended  to  read  as  follows : 
Sec.  148.  That  no  obscene,  lewd  or  lascivious  book,  pamphlet,  picture,  paper, 
print  or  other  publication  of  an  indecent  character,  or  any  article  or  thing  de- 
signed or  intended  for  the  prevention  of  conception,  or  procuring  of  abortion, 
nor  any  article  or  thing  intended  or  adapted  for  any  indecent  or  immoral  use 
or  nature,  nor  any  written  or  printed  card,  circular,  book,  pamphlet,  advertise- 
ment or  notice  of  any  kind,  giving  information,  directly  or  indirectly,  where  or 
how,  or  of  whom  or  by  what  means  either  of  the  things  before  mentioned  may 
be  obtained  or  made,  nor  any  letter  upon  the  envelope  of  which,  or  postal  card 
upon  which,  indecent  or  scurrilous  epithets  may  be  written  or  printed,  shall  be 
carried  in  the  mail.  And  any  person  who  shall  knowingly  deposit,  or  cause  to 
be  deposited,  for  mailing  or  delivery,  any  of  the  hereinbefore  mentioned  arti- 
cles or  things,  or  any  notice,  or  paper  containing  any  advertisement  relating 
to  the  aforesaid  articles  or  things,  and  any  person,  who  in  pursuance  of  any 
plan  or  scheme  for  disposing  of  any  of  the  hereinbefore  mentioned  articles  or 
things,  shall  take,  or  cause  to  be  taken,  from  the  mail  any  such  letter  or  pack- 
age, shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and,  on  conviction  thereof,  shall, 
for  every  offence,  be  fined  not  less  than  one  hundred  dollars  nor  more  than  five 
thousand  dollars,  or  imprisoned  at  hard  labor  not  less  than  one  year  nor  more 
than  ten  years,  or  both,  at  the  discretion  of  the  Judge. 
Sec.  5  directs  the  seizure  and  condemnation  of  such  articles  or  things,  war- 
rants for  the  same  to  be  issued  by  a  Judge  of  a  District  or  Circuit  Court  of 
the  United  States,  upon  a  complaint  in  writing  of  any  violation  of  this  act  and 
founded  on  knowledge  or  belief,  and,  if  upon  belief,  setting  forth  the  grounds 
of  such  belief. 
