The Virchow Postmortem Procedure - The County Medical Examiners

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