CHAP. 8.—An ACT to amend and re-enact the act in effect February 17, 1900,
regulating the transportation of bodies dead of contagious or infectious
diseases.

Approved January 30, 1912.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
an act entitled an act regulating the transportation of bodies
dead of contagious or infectious diseases, approved March sec-
ond, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, as amended by an act
which became a law February seventeenth, nineteen hundred,
be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

§1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
the transportation of bodies of persons who have died of small-
pox or bubonic plague is absolutely prohibited, unless by per-
mission of the State board of health, and the local boards of
health where death occurs and where burial is desired.

$2. Bodies of persons who have died of Asiatic cholera, yel-
low fever, typhus fever, dipththeria (membranous croup),
scarlet fever (scarlatina, scarlet rash), erysipelas, glanders, an-
thrax, or leprosy, shall not be accepted for transportation unless
prepared for shipment by being thoroughly disinfected by (a)
arterial and cavity injection with an approved disinfecting
fluid; (b) disinfection and stopping of all orifices with absor-
bent cotton, and (c) washing the body with disinfectant, all of
which must be done by an embalmer holding a certificate as such,
issued by the State board of embalmers of Virginia.

After being disinfected as above, such body shall be en-
veloped in a layer of dry cotton, not less than one inch thick,
completely wrapped in a sheet securely fastened, and encased
in ali air-tight, zine, tin, copper, or lead-lined coftin or iron casket,
all joints and seams hermetically sealed, and all enclosed in a
strong, tight wooden box. Or the body being prepared for ship-
ment by disinfecting and wrapping as above, may be placed in a
strong coffin or casket, and said coffin or casket encased in an
air-tight, zine, copper, or tin-lined box, all joints and seams
hermetically soldered.

For interstate transportation under this section only em-
balmers holding a license issued or approved by the State or
provincial board of health, or other State or provincial au-
thority provided for by law, after examination, shall be recog-
nized as competent to prepare such bodies for shipment.

The city, town and county health officers of this State are
hereby empowered to regulate the transportation by private con-
veyance in their respective jurisdictions the bodies of persons
dead of diseases mentioned in section one and two of this act.

$3. The bodies of those dead of typhoid fever, puerperal
fever, tuberculosis, or measles may be received for transporta-
tion when prepared for shipment by arterial and cavity injec-
tion with an approved disinfecting fluid, washing the exterior
of the body with the same and enveloping the entire body with a
layer of cotton not less than one inch thick, and all wrapped
in a Sheet securely fastened, and encased in an air-tight metallic
coffin or casket, or air-tight metal-lined box: provided, that this
shall apply only to bodies which can reach their destination
within thirty hours from the time of death. This shall not
apply to bodies addressed to the anatomical board of Virginia;
such may be received for transportation when prepared for
shipment in such manner as the Virginia State board of health
may direct. In all other cases such bodies shall be prepared
by a licensed embalmer, holding a certificate as provided for
in section two. When prepared by a licensed embalmer, as de-
fined and directed in section two, the air-tight sealing and ban-
daging in cotton may be dispensed with.

And provided, further, that bodies dead of diseases named
in section three, disinfected and prepared as required in this
section (three), may be received for shipment to points within
the State of Virginia which can be reached within twelve hours
from time of death without requiring the coffin or casket to be
metal-lined or hermetically sealed.

$4. The bodies of those dead from any catise not stated in
sections one, two and three may be received for transportation
when encased in a sound coffin or casket and enclosed in a strong
outside wooden box, provided they can reach their destination
within thirty hours from the time of death. If the body can-
not reach its destination within thirty hours from the time of
death, it must be prepared for shipment by arterial and cavity
injection with an approved disinfecting fluid, washing the exte-
rior of the body with the same and enveloping the entire
body with a laver of drv cotton not less than one inch thick,
and all wrapped in a sheet securely fastened and encased in
an air-tight metallic coffin or casket or an air-tight metal-lined
box. But when the body has been prepared for shipment by
being thoroughly disinfected by a licensed embalmer, as defined
and directed in section two, the air-tight sealing and bandaging
with cotton may be dispensed with.

$5. In the shipment of bodies dead from any disease named
in section two, such body must not be accompanied by persons or
articles which have been exposed to the infection of the disease,
unless certified by the health officer as having been properly
disinfected.

And before selling tickets, agents must carefully examine
the transit permit and note the name of the passenger in charge,
and of any others proposing to accompany the body, and see
that all necessary precautions have been taken to prevent the
spread of disease. The transit permit in such cases shall speci-
fically state who is authorized by the health authorities to ac-
company the remains. In all cases where bodies are forwarded
under section two, notice must be sent by telegraph by the ship-
ping embalmer to the health officer, or where there is no health
officer, to other competent authority at destination, advising the
date and train on which the body may be expected.

86. Every dead body must be accompanied by a person in
charge, who must be provided with a passage ticket and also
present a full first-class ticket marked “corpse” for the trans-
portation of the body, and a transit permit, printed on yellow
paper, showing physician’s or coroner’s certificate, name of de-
ceased, date and hour of death, age, place of death, cause of
death, and all other items of the standard certificate of death
recommended by the American public health association and
adopted by the United States census bureau, as far as obtain-
able, including health officer’s permit for removal, whether com-
municable or non-communicable, the point to which the body is
to be shipped, and when death is caused by any disease specified
in section two, the names of those authorized by the health au-
thorities to accompany the body, and undertaker’s certificate as
to how the body has been prepared.

The transit permit must be made in duplicate, and the sig-
nature of physician or coroner, health officer and undertaker
must be on both the original and duplicate copies. The under-
taker’s certificate and paster of the original shall be detached
from the transit permit and securely fastened on the end of
the coffin box. All coffin boxes must be provided with at least
four handles. The physician’s certificate and transit permit
shall be handed to the passenger in charge of the corpse. The
whole duplicate copy shall be sent to the official in charge of
the baggage department of the initial line, and by him to the
secretary of the board of health of this State.

The station baggage agent shall enter on blank, following
the funeral director’s certificate, over his signature, descrip-
tion of corpse, ticket, exact route and via what junction points
the ticket reads. Said certificates and transit permits shall be
furnished in blank by the transportation companies where no
local board of health exists.

S7. When bodies are shipped by express, the transit permit,
as described in section six, must also be made out in duplicate.
The undertaker’s certificate of the orignal shall be detached
from the transit permit and securely fastened on the coffin-box.
The physician’s or coroner’s certificate and transit permit shall
be attached to and accompany the express way-bill covering
the remains, and be delivered with the body at the point of desti-
nation to the person to whom it is consigned. The whole dupli-
cate copy shall be sent by the forwarding express agent to the
secretary of the board of health of this State.

Everv disinterred body, dead from any disease or cause,
shall be treated as infectious or dangerous to the public health,
and shall not be accepted for transportation unless said removal
has been approved by the State or provincial health authorities
having jurisdiction where such body is disinterred, and the con-
sent of the health authorities of the locality to which the corpse
is consigned has been first obtained; and all such disinterred
remains, or the coffin or casket containing the same, must be
wrapped in a woolen blanket thoroughly saturated with a one
one-hundredth solution of corrosive sublimate, and enclosed in a
hermetically soldered zinc, tin, or copper-lined box. But bodies
deposited in receiving vaults shall not be treated and considered
the same as buried bodies, when originally prepared by a licensed
embalmer, as defined in section two, and as directed in section
two or three (according to the nature of the disease causing
death), provided shipment takes place within thirty days from
the time of death. The shipment of bodies prepared in the man-
ner herein directed, by, licensed embalmers, from receiving
vaults, may be made within thirty days from time of death with-
out having to obtain permission from the health authorities of
the locality to which the body is consigned. After thirty days
the casket or coffin containing said body must be enclosed in a
hermetically soldered box.

$9. The following form of certificate and transit permit in
duplicate must be used.

$10. Any person violating any of the provisions of this act
shall be deemed guilty of misdemeanor, and punished by a fine
of not less than ten dollars or more than twenty-five dollars, or
imprisoned not exceeding ten days for the first offense, and fined
not less than twenty-five nor more than one hundred dollars, or
imprisoned for not less than ten nor more than sixty days for
each offense additional.

$11. All acts or parts of acts conflicting with this act are
hereby repealed.