Chapter 132. For the promotion of anatomical science, and to prevent the desecration of graves in the District of Columbia
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CHAP. 132.— An Act For the promotion of anatomical science, and to prevent the desecration of graves in the District of Columbia.February 26, 1895. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,District of Columbia.Delivery of dead bodies from hospitals, etc., to medical colleges. That any public officer or officers, whether directors, trustees, superintendents, wardens, keepers, or managers, having lawful charge of or control over any hospital, prison, jail, or morgue, within the District of Columbia, may, with the approval of the health officer of said District, deliver to the duly authorized agent of any medical college or colleges in the District of Columbia, the bodies of such deceased persons as are required to be buried at the public expense, said bodies to be distributed among the several colleges *Proviso*.Bodies excepted.in proportion to the number of students in each: *Provided, however*, That if the deceased person, during his last illness, requested to be buried, or if within forty-eight hours, after his death any person claiming to be, and satisfying the health officer that he is, a relative by blood or marriage, or friend of the deceased, asks to have the body buried, or if such deceased person was a stranger or traveler who suddenly died, the body shall not be so delivered, but shall be buried.
Sec. 2. That before the bodies of such deceased persons as are mentionedNotices to relatives, etc. in the first, section shall be delivered to the authorized agents of any medical college in the District of Columbia notice shall be given by the person or persons having lawful charge of said bodies to the relative or friend Publication.of the deceased, if known; if not known, the death of the deceased shall be published at least once in a daily newspaper published in the city of Washington, in the District of Columbia, in which publication the full name of the deceased person shall, if possible, be given, and if such name be not known, a description of the person and apparel of the deceased, with information of the place where they may be seen, the expenses of such publication to be paid as other expenses FIFTY-THIRD CONGRESS.
Sess. III. Chs. 132–134. 1895.687 of the District of Columbia are paid: *Provided*, That the persons*Proviso*.Body to be kept thirty-six hours. named in the first section shall not deliver the body of the deceased, as provided in this Act, until at least thirty-six hours shall have elapsed since the death of said deceased and giving of said notice or the publication of the same. Sec. 3. That every person who shall have been duly authorized byCollege to give bond for use, etc., of body. the faculty of any medical college in the District of Columbia to receive such dead bodies shall, before so receiving them, give to the health officer of said District a bond in the sum of two hundred dollars, with surety satisfactory to said health officer, and conditioned that each dead body shall be used only for the promotion of anatomical and surgical knowledge within the said District of Columbia, and that after having been so used the remains thereof shall be decently buried; andPunishment for removing bodies from graves, etc. whosoever shall use such body or bodies for any purpose other than that aforesaid, or shall remove the same beyond the limits of the District of Columbia, and whosoever shall sell or buy such body or bodies, or in any way traffic in the same, or who shall disturb or remove bodies from graves in which they have been buried, or who shall disregard the expressed wishes of the deceased, or of his or her friends, where such wishes may be disclosed, as provided for in section one of’ this Act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction, be imprisoned for a term not less than two nor more than three years, at hard labor, in the jail of said District.
Approved, February 26, 1895. Chapter 133: To amend section twenty-four hundred and fifty-five of the Revised Statutes of the United States. Chapter 133 28 Stat. 687 1895-02-26 United States Government Publishing Office text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Digitization Vendor 2026-02-15 53 3 public
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Chapter 132
For the promotion of anatomical science, and to prevent the desecration of graves in the District of Columbia
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