Lyrics The Virchow Postmortem Procedure - The County Medical Examiners

The Virchow Postmortem Procedure

Virchow’s method is the heart of prosector life
Pen-gripped scalpels and palm-gripped section knives
19th century dissection methods still relevant today
Systematic journeys of corpses rudely flayed
Pathological anatomy married with forensics
Notating viscera in situ: a concept then eccentric
Opening carcasses in a highly ordered Virchow
Guide my hand
Removing jellied organs from crumbling husks of waste
Putrefaction inspires haste as tissues whisk to paste
Following the method that Virchow gave to us
Before the dead is laid to rest, we mire through the sickening pus
Tearing open carcasses, a frenzied labored job
I weigh the heart then section liver
It comes away with repugnant wet pop
Dissecting entire organ systems at once
A chain of glistening innards to expertly trounce
Thoracic chamber-a cave of bony hazards
Abdominal system-decrepit, stinking cupboard
Tearing my gloves on ragged costal arches
I manhandle the kidneys and they split with tiny notches
I drop my bread knife in the gassy, reeking cess
Suction from the putrefaction yanks my glove into the mess
Split the trunk
Right down its length
Rudolph Virchow
Give me strength
Revolting belching stiffs reduced to collapsed slab
Disassembled, emptied out, and stuffed in biohazard bags
Rudolph Virchow
Lives in these halls
The morgue, his home
His disciples-all
We carve and hack
Seeking death
We steadfast priests
Of The Last Breath
Done my time
In ME school
The chow’s a joke
The work is cruel
My trade is sick
But I’m compelled
Rudolph Virchow
Taught me well