Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/320

 BILLINGS.

BINGUAM.

health from ISTOto llSSt). ami in rliavKe of the vital statistics of the tenth rensus. and of vital and social statistics for the eleventh census. He de- livered the American adtlress at the international medical congress of London in 1881; the address on medicine at the British medical association, 1886; the presiilential address of the first congress of American j)hysicians and surgeons, 1*^88; the Lowell lectures on the history of medicine, Bos- t«^>n. 1887-'88, and the Cartwright lectures on vital and medical stati.stics, N. Y., 1889. He re- ceived the honorary degree of LL.D. from Edin- burgh in 1884, and from Harvard in 1886; that ut M.D. from Munich in 1889, that of D.C.L, from Oxford in 1889. and that of LL.D. from Yale in 1901. and from Johns Hopkins in 1902. He was elected president of the American library association in 1901 and vice-cliairman of the board of trustees of the Carnegie Institute in 1902. He served as treasurer of the National academy of sciences: as vice-president of the American statistical a.ssociation; as pi-esident of the Ameri- can public liealtii association: the Philosophical society, Washington, and of the congress of American pliysicians and surgeons. He was a member of many other prominent scientific and medical bodies in tiie United States, and was chosen the American member of the permanent committee of the international congress of hygiene, and honorary member of the Statistical society of London, the Royal medical society of London, the Arztlich Verein in Munchen, the Medical .society of Sweden, the Soci^td Frau^aise d'Hygiene, the association of American physi- cians, the State medical societies of New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire. Maryland, Cali- fornia, and other local .societies at home and abroad. For a short time he was a professor at the L'niversity of Penn.sjivania, resigning Jan. 8, 1896, to accept the position of suiierintending librarian of the New York public library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden foundations, consolidated. Dr. Billings was special guest at a banquet given on Feb. 14, 1896, by the Metropolitan club of New York to the directors of the library in celebration of the amalgamation of the three libraries. He is the author of " Reports in the Medical and Surgical History of the War," also of a " Report on Cryptogamic Growths in Cattle Diseases." a " Report on Barracks and Hospitals," " Bibliography of Cholera " (1875); " Report on Hygiene of the United States Army," " Mortality and Vital Statisticsof the United States," " Index Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon-Gen- eral's Office," '"Literature and Institutions" (1876); "Index Medicus," a monthly classified record of the current medical literature. of the world. (1879 et .SP7. );" Medical Bibliography" (1883); " Principles of Ventilation and Heating,

and their Practical Application" (1884, 3d ed., 1893); " The National Medical Dictionary," writ- ten in collaboration with W. O. Atwater, M.D., Frank Baker, M.D., and others (2 vols., 1890); " Description of the Jolms Hopkins Hospital" (1890); " Vital Statistics of the Eleventh Census" (1894); "The History and Literature of Sur- gery" (1895); "Suggestions to Hospital and Asy- Imn Visitors" (1895); "Bacteria of River Waters " (1895); "Report on Social Statistics of the United States " (1895), and rmmerous papers in scientific periodicals.

BILLINGS, Josh. (See Shaw, Henry Wheeler).

BILLINGS, William, musical composer, was born in Boston, Mass., Oct. 7, 1746. When a young man he amused himself in his leisure hours by writing down the music which was ever running in his mind. Before that time all music used in the United States was brought from Europe. The airs which Billings wrote \vere of a merry, joyous nature, and at once sprang into popularity. He had received no in- struction in the rules of harmony and composi- tion, and his songs were lacking in correctness and finish, but they were harmonious, and more intricate in construction than those then in u.se. In 1770 he published " The New England Psalm- Singer," and in 1778 "The Singing Master's Assistant." During the revolutionary war he wrote many popular patriotic songs and in 1779 published " Music in Miniature. " Then followed " The Psalm-Singer's Amusement " *(1781); "The Suffolk Harmony" (1786); "The Conti- nental Harmony " (1794), and numerous songs, hymns and anthems. He died Sept. 26, 1800.

BINGHAM, Harry, lawyer, was born at Con- cord, Vt., March 30, 1821; son of Warner and Lucy (W^heeler) Bingham. He was graduated at Dartmouth college in the class of 1843, and received the degree of LL.D. from that institu- tion in 1880. He studied law at Bath, N. H., was admitted to the bar in 1846, and in September of the same year estab- lished himself in the practice of his pro- fession at Littleton, N. H., where hp ac- quired reputation as an able and painstak- ing lawyer. He was well versed in all branches of the law, and was frequently called upon to furnish opinions upon mat- ters not in litigation, legal adviser of the Concord railroad system, tho

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From 1870 he was the chief