Topography of the kidneys, illustration. The back view illustration of the kidneys is from Volume 1 of the 'The Household Physician', published in 1908 as a 'Family guide to the preservation of health and the domestic treatment of illness'. The location of the kidneys with their structure and function, the anatomy and physiology, is close on each side to the back-bone, right and left (R.K. and L.K.) . Basically, the kidneys act as a special filter system in the body that removes waste products from the blood and produces urine. The two yellow tubes (Uret.) carries urine from the kidney to the urinary bladder. The blue tube (V.) is the ascending Vena Carva vein; Des.A. stands for the descending aorta; the blue outline indicates the area occupied by the lungs.