Hohensee

Adolphus Hohensee and Donald Kenneth Smith appeal from judgments of conviction entered upon jury verdicts of conspiracy to cheat and defraud, etc. (Pen. Code, § 182, subd. 4) and conspiracy to advertise a drug or device represented to have any effect in certain diseases, in violation of Health and Safety Code, section 26286.5 (Pen. Code, § 182, subd. 1).

Defendants ’ convictions stem from health lectures given by them in San Diego in 1962.

Smith, one of Hohensee’s traveling managers, arranged the San Diego lectures. He rented the Continental Room of the San Diego Hotel; placed advertisements in local newspapers; visited health food stores, placing posters in their windows and soliciting their mailing lists; hired local workers to assist his management of the lectures. At the lectures, Smith punched tickets, collected fees charged for special classes, and generally supervised collection of solicited contributions and sale of pamphlets. On occasion, he lectured.

Hohensee was the principal lecturer. The majority of the audience was over fifty years old. Hohensee instructed in part: Mercurochrome causes cancer; the white of an egg will heal a third degee burn without leaving a…