BILLINGS 30 was demonstrator of anatomy in the last institution, in 1860-1861; entered the Union army as an Assistant Surgeon, in 1861; was promoted to Lieutenant- Colonel and Deputy Surgeon General, June 6, 1864; and was retired, Oct. 1, 1895. He was Professor of Hygiene in the University of Pennsylvania, in 1893- 1896; and in the last year was appointed Director of the New York Public Library (Astor, Lenox and Tilden foundations). After the close of the war Dr. Billings took charge of the library in the Surgeon- General's Office; reorganized the United States Marine Hospital Service; was Vice-President of the National Board of Health, in 1879-1882; and had charge of the compilation of vital and social statis- tics in the Eleventh Census (1890, et seq.). He was a member of a large num- ber of American and foreign scientific so- cieties, and his numerous publications in- clude "Principles of Ventilation and Heating," "Index Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon-General's Office, United States Army" (14 vols.), and "The National Medical Dictionary" (2 vols.) ; "Some Library Problems of To- morrow" (1902) ; "Physiological Aspect of the Library Question" (1903). He died in 1913. BILLINGS, JOSH. See Shaw, Henry Wheeler. BILLINGSGATE, a word said to have been derived from Belinus Magnus, a somewhat mythic British prince, father of King Lud, about 400 B. c. It is ap- plied to the celebrated London fish mar- ket existent at least as early as A. D. 979, made a free market in 1699, extended in 1849, rebuilt in 1852, and finally exposed to the rivalry of another market begun 1874, completed 1876. The word is also used to indicate foul, abusive language, such as is popularly supposed to be mutually employed by fish-wives. BILLION, in English notation 1,000,- 000 times 1,000,000, and in England it is written 1,000,000,000,000, i. e., with twice as many ciphers as 1,000,000 has. In the United States and in France the nota- tion is different, the word billion signify- ing only 1,000 millions, written 1,000,- 000,000. BILLITON, a Dutch East Indian island between Banca and the S. W. of Borneo, of an irregular, sub-quadrangu- lar form, about 40 miles across. It pro- duces iron and tin, and exports sago, cocoanuts, pepper, tortoise shell, trepang, edible birds' nests, etc. It was ceded to the British in 1812 by the Sultan of Palembang, but in 1824 it was given up to the Dutch. Pop. about 60,000. BIMETALLISM BILLON, an alloy of copper and silver, in which the former predominates, used in some countries for coins of low value^ the object being to avoid the bulkiness of pure copper coin. BILMA, a town of the Sahara, central Africa, situated in 18° 40' N. lat., 14° E. long., on an oasis called the Wady Kewar. It is the capital of the Tibu covmtry, important as a resting-place of caravans crossing the desert, but is a poor place. BILOXI, a city in Harrison co.. Miss., on Biloxi Bay, opening into the Gulf of Mexico, and the Louisville and Nashville railroad; 80 miles N. E. of New Orleans. It is principally engaged in the canning of oysters, fish, fruit and vegetables, and has also considerable manufacturing and shipping interests. Biloxi is the site of the first settlement made near the Missis- sippi by white men, under the direction of Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, in 1699. The city has electric lights, artesian waterworks, over 25 miles of shell roads, and an iron lighthouse with a light 62 feet above the sea level; and is a popu- lar summer and winter resort. Pop. (1910) 7,988; (1920) 10,937. BILOXI INDIANS, the name given to one of the 10 groups of tribes into which the Siouan stock of North American In- dians is divided. In 1669 they had one village on Biloxi Bay near the Gulf of Mexico. Thirty years later there were three villages, Biloxi, Paskagula and Moctobi. A few survivors of the tribe are still to be found near Lecompte, Rap- ides parish. La. BIMETALLISM, a term invented by Henry Cernuschi and currently used to denote a double monetary standard of value. The idea was first promulgated by Schneidt in 1766 and nearly 100 years later by Schiibler, J. Oppenheim and Ph. Geyer. Bimetallists assert that the ex- ceedingly unsatisfactory condition of the productive industries and of commerce generally is largely due to the apprecia- tion of gold and the violent fluctuations and uncertainty of exchange between gold standard and silver standard countries; and that the best and most effective rem- edy is to be secured by an agreement, on a broad international basis, to reopen the mints of the leading nations of the world to the unrestricted coinage of both gold and silver. An International Monetary Congress, held at Paris, September, 1889, discussed the subject academically, and an International Monetary Conference, which was convened by the United States, ' "to consider by what means, if any, the use of silver can be increased in the cur-
