CHAP. 578.—An ACT regulating the transportation of bodies
dead of contagious or infectious diseases.

Approved March 2, 1892.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That no railroad corporation or other common carrier or
person shall convey or cause to be conveyed through or
from any city, town, or place in this state—

First. The body of any person who died of small-pox,
Asiatic cholera, or yellow fever.

Second. The body of any person who died of measles,
diphtheria, scarlet fever, or typhoid fever, or any other
contagious or infectious or communicable disease, before
offered for transportation, must be wrapped in a sheet
thoroughly saturated with a strong solution of bi-chloride
of mercury, in the proportion of one ounce of bi-chloride
of mercury toone gallon of water, and inclosed in an air-
tight coffin or casket hermetically sealed, which shall be
enclosed in a tight wooden box of material not less than
one inch in thickness. Before any dead body can be re-
ceived for transportation there shall be presented to the
transportation agent a certificate from an undertaker sta-
ting that the aforesaid regulations have been complied with
by him; also, a certificate from the local health official, or,
where no health official exists, a certificate from a practicing
physician shall be presented, stating the name, the place
of death, and the disease which caused the death of the
deceased. Said certificate shall be furnished in duplicate;
one copy shall be posted ypon the box containing the dead
body. Said certificate shall be furnished in blank by the
traneportation company where no local board of health
exists.
2. This act shall be in force from its passage.