Charles Knowlton, born in 1800 in Massachusetts, became the first man in history to go to jail for advocating birth control. He was a self-taught freethinker who never left New England, except for two brief visits to New York State. In 1832 he published a birth control classic, "Fruits of Philosophy, or the Private Companion of Young Married People"; and the work helped to establish him as the founder of American contraceptive medicine. At the time the value of "Fruits of Philosophy" were not noticed. The "Boston Medical and Surgical Journal" primly talked of the "unnatural measures" proposed, adding that "the less that is known about it by the public at large, the better it will be for the morals of the community." Three sets of prosecutions were launched against Knowlton, one resulting in a fifty dollar fine and costs, another in three months 2 hard labour in a house of correction.