British Census Commissioners in 1841 had declared the population of Ireland to be 8,175,124. During the Famine years, 1845-50, Ireland's population declined in the millions due to deaths from starvation and disease and from mass emigration to North America and England.
Located at the rear of the abdominal cavity in the retroperitoneal space, the kidneys receive blood from the paired renal arteries, and drain into the paired renal veins. Each kidney excretes urine into a ureter which empties into the bladder. Renal physiology is the study of kidney function, while nephrology is the medical specialty concerned with kidney diseases. Diseases of the kidney are diverse, but individuals with kidney disease frequently display characteristic clinical features.
There are a number of important external structures connecting the kidneys to the rest of the body. The renal artery branches off from the lower part of the aorta and provides the blood supply to the kidneys. Renal veins take blood away from the kidneys into the inferior vena cava. The ureters are structures that come out of the kidneys, bringing urine downward into the bladder.