In Re Gerber

Petitioner demands his release from an alleged unlawful detention pursuant to his conviction upon a charge of having violated that portion of section 1 of the Optometry Law (Stats. 1913, p. 1097) providing that no person shall engage in the practice of optometry without having first obtained a certificate of registration from the State Board of Optometry. Petitioner does not claim ever to have obtained such a certificate, but he contends that his imprisonment is unlawful because of the provisions of section 10 of the Optometry Law to the effect that the act shall not he construed “to prevent duly licensed physicians and surgeons from treating or fitting glasses to the human eye.” In other words, petitioner makes the claim that he was a duly licensed physician and surgeon at the time of the commission of the acts which were the basis of the charge against him. Whether or not he then was so licensed is the only question presented for our consideration and decision' in this proceeding.

Petitioner is a graduate and holds a degree from a school conducted by the Association of Naturopaths of California, which association is a corporation, having been organized in August, 1904. The…