Chap. 625.—An ACT to establish a state board of embalming, to provide for the
better protection of life and health, to prevent the spread of contagious dis-
eases, and to regulate the practice of embalming and the care and disposition
of the dead.

Approved March 5, 1894.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That there
is hereby established and created a board to be known as the-state
board of embalming of Virginia.

2. Of whom composed and how appointed.—The board shall con-
sist of five members, to be appointed by the governor of the com-
monwealth, and all vacancies occurring on the board shall be filled
by the governor. Each member shall serve for a term of five years
from the date of his appointment going into effect, except those first
appointed, who shall serve as follows: one for one year, one for two
years, one for three years, one for four years and one for five years,
respectively. The governor shall designate the number of years each
shal] serve, and any one having served as a member of the board shall
be eligible for reappointment. The first board shall be appointed on
or before the first day of June, eighteen hundred and ninety-four,
and one member annually thereafter, who shall serve for a term of
five years from the first day of July next ensuing; all subsequent ap-
pointments on the board, except to fill vacancies, shall be selected
from three names sent to the governor by the Virginia funeral direc-
tors’ association. The members of said board of embalmers shall be
residents of the state of Virginia, and each of whom shall at least
have had five years’ experience in the practice of embalming and
the care of and disposition of dead human bodies in this state. The
governor shall have power to remove from office any member of said
board for neglect of duty, incompetency or improper conduct.

3. One member of the board of embalmers on state board of
health.—At the time of appointing members of the state board of
embalmers the governor shall designate and appoint one of said
board to be also a member of the state board of health, whose duty
it shall be to serve on the state board of health during the time that
he is a member of the state board of embalmers, but without expense
to said board of health. The governor shall also appoint such mem-
ber’s successor on the state board of health from the state board of
embalmers; said membership shall be in addition to that of said
board of health as now provided for by law.

4. The governor shall furnish each person appointed to serve on
the state board of embalmers a certificate of appointment. The ap-
pointee shall qualify by taking the usual oath of office before a
county or corporation court of the county or corporation in which
the said person may reside within ten days after said appointment
has been made, and this fact shall be noted on the certificate of ap-
pointment, and shall be filed with the board of embalmers.

5. The first meeting of the board shall be held on the second day
of July, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, or as soon thereafter as
may be practicable; three members shall constitute a quorum.

6. There shall be elected at the first meeting a president and a
secretary from the members of said board, who shall serve for one
year, or until their successors shall be elected and have qualified.
The secretary shall furnish such bond as may be required of him by
the board. The board may adopt a common seal. The president of
said board (and in his absence a president pro tempore elected by
the members present) is hereby authorized to administer oaths to
witnesses testifying before said board. The said board shall from
time to time adopt rules, regulations and by-laws, not inconsistent
with the laws of this state or of the United States, whereby the per-
formance of the duties of said board and the practice of embalming
of dead human bodies shall be regulated. The said board shall
meet at least once in each year, and may as often as the proper and
efficient discharge of its duties shall require. *

7. License, and so forth.—From and after the passage of this act
every person now engaged, or desiring to engage in the practice of
embalming dead human bodies. within the state of Virginia, shall
make a written application to the state board of embalming for a
license, accompanying the same with the license fee of five dollars,
whereupon the applicant, as aforesaid, shall present himself or
herself before said board, at a time and place to be fixed by said
board, and if the board shall find, upon due examination, that the
applicant is of good moral character, possessed of skill and knowledge
of said science of embalming and thecare and disposition of the dead,
and has a reasonable knowledge of sanitation and the disinfection of
bodies of deceased persons, and the apartment, clothing and bedding
in case of death from infectious or contagious diseases, the board
shall issue to said applicant a license to practice said science of em-
balming and the care and disposition of the dead, and shall register
such applicant as a duly licensed embalmer. Such license shal] be
signed by a majority of the board and attested by its seal. All per-
sons receiving a license under the provisions of this act shall] also
register the fact at the office of the board of health of the city, and
where there is no board of health, with the clerkof the town or
county court in the jurisdiction of which it is proposed to carry on
said practice, and shall display said license in a conspicuous place
in the office of such licentiate.

8. Every registered embalmer who desires to continue the practice
of his profession shall annually thereafter, during the time he shall
continue in such practice, on such date as said board may deter-
mine, pay to the secretary of said board a fee of two dollars for the
renewal of registration.

9. All expenses, salary and per diem to members of this board
shall be paid from fees received under the provisions of this act,
and shall in no manner be an expense to the state. All moneys re-
ceived in excess of said per diem allowance and other expenses pro-
vided for shall be held by the secretary of said board as a special
fund for meeting the expenses of said board.

10. On and after the first day of January, eighteen hundred and
ninety-five, it shall be unlawful for any person not a registered em-
balmer to practice or pretend to practice the science of embalm-
ing, unless said person is a registered embalmer within the meaning
of this chapter.

11. Nothing in this act shall apply to or in any manner interfere
with the duties of any officer of local or state institutions; nor shal]
this act apply to any person engaged simply in the furnishing of
burial receptacles for the dead and burying the dead, but not_em-
balming. |

12. Any person who shall practice or hold himself or herself as
practicing the science of embalming without having complied with
the provisions of this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and,
upon conviction thereof before any court, shall be sentenced to pay
a fine of not less than fifty dollars nor more than one hundred dol-
lars for each and every offence. All fines assessed for the violation
of any of the provisions of this act shall be paid into the literary
fund of this commonwealth.

13. Schools for teaching embalming shall have extended to them
the same privileges as to the use of bodies for dissection while
teaching as those granted in this state to medical colleges: provided
such bodies must be obtained through the state anatomical board.

14. This act shall apply only to cities having a population of five
thousand or more.