completed in 16 volumes in 1895, the year of his retirement from the army. The work was continued under Dr. Robert Fletcher (q.v.) and later under Dr. F. H. Garrison. The second series, in 21 volumes, was completed in 1916.
With this work Billings takes easily the first place in medical bibliography; he is "the prince of medical bibliographers," as Sir Thomas Barlow called him at the International Congress of London. The catalogue was Billings' life work, his love and his pride. Its successful accomplishment was due to him alone. He laid out the general plan and supervised every detail, and after he left the Surgeon General's Office his interest in this great work never ceased, and during all his later life he remained in constant touch with it. Simultaneously with the catalogue Billings published the Index Medicus, a monthly bibliography of medical literature. This publication was taken over, in 1902, by the Carnegie Institution and has appeared under the able editorship of Dr. Garrison.
During his arduous work in the Library at Washington Billings found time to write numerous articles and treatises, and whatever he wrote bears the marks of his originality and shows the brilliancy of his strong and versatile mind. With fondness he delved in the past of American medicine, and his writings on the history of medicine in the United States belong to the best that have appeared in this field. No man knew better than he the shortcomings of medical education in this country. In lectures and writings he unceasingly advocated higher standards in medical education, and the great advances in this field are in no small part due to his caustic criticisms. Billings made a number of trips to Europe in the interest of the Library. He met most of the noted medical men of England, France and Germany and gained their lasting friendship. In 1881 he made a notable address before the International Medical Congress at London on "Our Medical Literature." The witty humor and the caustic criticism with which he surveyed the medical literary activity of the time attracted general attention.
When Billings was retired from the army at his own request in 1895, he, for a short time, filled the chair of hygiene at the University of Pennsylvania. But a greater field of activity was soon to open for him. In 1896 he was appointed Director of the New York Public Library. In this position, which he held until his death, he performed the difficult task of consolidating the three great libraries of the Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Billings, with his unsurpassed executive ability, brought order out of chaos, and today the New York Public Library, with its more than two million volumes and fifty branch libraries, is without its equal anywhere. Billings also laid out the plan for the new building of the great library, which is now one of the ornaments of the American metropolis.
The cares of this work and the ceaseless toil gradually began to wear down his iron constitution. After a brief illness he died in New York March 11, 1913. His body was buried at Arlington, near Washington, in the presence of innumerable friends and admirers.
Besides a great number of articles and treatises published in the various medical journals, Billings wrote the following books: "The Principles of Ventilation and Heating and Their Practical Application" (1884); "Report on the Mortality and Vital Statistics of the United States as Returned by the Tenth Census" (1885; "Description of the Johns Hopkins Hospital" (1890); "The National Medical Dictionary" (1890); "Ventilation and Heating" (1893); "The History of Surgery" (1895); "Report on the Local Statistics of the Eleventh Census" (1895), and "Vital Statistics of Boston and Philadelphia" (1895).
Billings was married to Miss Kate M. Stevens in 1862, who was to him a loving and faithful helpmate in his laborious life. He left one son, Dr. John S. Billings, and four daughters.
In personal appearance Dr. Billings was tall and commanding. His handsome features bore the marks of a strong mind with unlimited will power. He was kind and sympathetic in personal intercouse, always disposed to bantering jokes. His was a frank and open nature, a true and honest Westerner who hated shams and empty pretensions. During his long and toilsome career numerous honors were showered upon him. He received honorary degrees from the universities of Edinburgh, Oxford, Dublin, Munich, Budapest, Harvard, Yale and Johns Hopkins, and was a member of numerous medical and scientific societies.
A full account of the life and work of Dr. Billings is given in a memorial volume by Dr. F. H. Garrison, who was his friend and assistant in the Surgeon General's Library for many years. Dr. Garrison's book, the fruit of laborious research, is an able and well-merited tribute to the great man. The present sketch is largely based on this work.
