BIL 



137 



BIM 



to pay the sum specified to the payee. 

 Hills of exchange are either inland, i.e., 

 when both the drawer and drawee re- 

 side in the same county; or foreign, i.e., 

 when drawn by a person in one country 

 upon one residing in another. 



BILL or HEALTH, a certificate or in- 

 strument, signed by consuls or other pro- 

 per authorities delivered to the masters 

 of ships at the time of their clearing 

 out from all ports or places suspected 

 of being particularly liable to infectious 

 disorders, certifying the state of health 

 at the time that such ship sailed. A 

 clean bill imports that, at the time the 

 ship sailed no infectious disorder was 

 known to exist there. A suspected bill, 

 more commonly called a touched patent 

 or bill, imports that no infectious dis- 

 order had actually broken out, but that 

 there were rumours of such. A foul bill 

 imports that the place was affected when 

 the vessel left ; this is more commonly 

 known by the absence of clean bills, 

 a foul bill not being worth having. 



BILL OF LADING, a formal receipt signed 

 by the master of a trading vessel in his 

 capacity of carrier, acknowledging that 

 he has received the goods specified in it 

 on board his ship, and binding himself, 

 under certain exceptions, to deliver them 

 in the like good order as received, at the 

 place and to the individual named, &c. 

 There are usually triplicate copies, one 

 for the party sending, another for the 

 party to whom the goods are sent, and 

 the third for the captain. 



KILL OF MORTALITY, an account of the 

 number of deaths in a place in a given 

 time. These bills usually contain also a 

 summary of births, christenings, &c. 



BILL OF PARCELS, an account given by 

 the seller to the buyer of the several arti- 

 cles purchased, with the price of each. 

 See INVOICE. 



BILL or RIGHTS, a summary "of that 

 residium of natural liberty which is not 

 required by the laws of society to be sacri- 

 ficed to public convenience ; or else those 

 civil privileges which society has engaged 

 to provide in lieu of those natural liberties 

 so given up by individuals." The name 

 is usually given to the declaration pre- 

 sented by the houses of Lords and Com- 

 mons to the Prince of Oranjre in 1688, on 

 his succession to the British throne, 

 wherein they "do claim, demand, and 

 Insist upon, all and singular the pre- 

 mises" as their undoubted rights and 

 privileges. A similar declaration was 

 made in the act of settlement. 



BILL OF SALE, a contract under seal, by 

 which an individual conveys away the 

 right and interest he has in the good's and 

 Chattels named in the bill, on some consi- 

 deration given or promised. 



BILL or SIGHT, when a merchant is 



ignorant of the real nature of the goods 

 assisned to him, so that he is unable to 

 make a perfect entry of them, he must 

 give due notice of the circumstance at the- 

 custom-house : the collector is thereupon 

 authorised to take an entry by bill of sight, 

 and to grant warrant that the goods be 

 landed and examined by the importer in 

 presence of the officers. 



BILL OF STORE, a license granted by the 

 custom-house to merchants, to carry such 

 stores and provisions as are necessary fol 

 a voyage free of duty. 



BIL'LA VE'RA, true bill. The indorse- 

 ment of the grand inquest upon any in- 

 dictment which is found to be probably 

 true. 



BILLETE', billt*<i. A French word used 

 in heraldry to signify that the ground of 

 the escutcheon is strewed with billets or 

 rectangular oblong figures supposed to 

 represent cloth of gold and silver num- 

 ber of such indefinite. 



BILL'IARDS, an interesting game of 

 French invention, played on a rectangular 

 table covered with green cloth, with ivory 

 balls which are to be driven into holes 

 called hazard-nets or pockets, at the corners 

 of the table, with sticks, one of which is 

 a mace, and the other a cue. 



BILL'ION, that is, bi-million. According 

 to the English system of numeration, a 

 billion means a million times a million, or 

 1,000,000 X 1,000,000 = 1,000,000,000,000; 

 but in the French sytein it expresses a 

 thousand times a million, or 1000 X 

 1,000,000 = 1,000,000,000. See NUMERA- 

 TION. 



BILO'BED, Lat. bilobus, two-lobed. Ap- 

 plied in botany to leaves, petals, seed- 

 vessels, &c., which are divided into two 

 rounded portions or lobes ; e. g. the cap- 

 sules of the veronica biloba. 



BILOC'ITLAR, Lat. bilocularix, two-celled. 

 Applied to capsules, &c., whicli have two 

 cells. 



BIM AC'U LATE, Lat. bis and macula, a spot. 

 Anything marked with two spots. 



BIMA'NA, Lat. from bis and mantis, a 

 hand: two-handed animals. Thebimana 

 constitute the first order of mammalia 

 comprehends but one genus, and that 

 genus is man. 



BIM AR'GIN ATE, two-margined. A term 

 applied to shells which are furnished with 

 a double margin as far as the lip. 



BIME'DIAL, bis and medial. If two me- 

 dial lines, commensurable only in power, 

 and containing a rational rectanulf, be 

 compounded, the whole will be irrational 

 with respect to the other too, and is a./Sri 

 bimedial line: but if the lines be commen- 

 surable only in power and contain a me- 

 dial rcctiinzlc, the whole, when com- 

 pounded, will be irrational, and constitute 

 a second bimedial line. Euclid, B. x. prop 

 38 and 32 



