The Board of Regents 77 



" I will only add, speaking of him still chiefly in his rela- 

 tionship to this Institution, that in 1884 he was chosen one 

 of its Regents, to succeed the Reverend Doctor Peter Parker. 

 For ten years he gave conscientious attention to its interests, 

 and upheld in every way those conservative and dignified 

 traditions of which I have already spoken of him as almost 

 the living embodiment ; and while he did this primarily be- 

 cause of their harmony with his own personal tendencies and 

 convictions as to their value, he did so also because of his 

 affection and reverence for the first Secretary, Joseph Henry, 

 whose pupil he had been in his youth, and with whom in 

 middle life he maintained the relation of friend and confidant. 

 After Henry's death, Doctor Welling consented to add to his 

 already burdensome duties those of the chairman of the 

 Executive Committee, which he performed till his own death, 

 so that he may be said to have been a link between the past 

 and the present in the history of this Institution, though 

 happily not the only one, since it has preserved others in 

 his contemporaries." 



The death of Doctor Henry Coppee was announced by 

 the Chancellor at the meeting held on March 21, 1895. The 

 following resolutions were presented by Senator Henderson : 



"That the Board of Regents feels sincere sorrow in the 

 loss of one whose distinguished career as a soldier, a man of 

 letters, and whose services in the promotion of education 

 command their highest respect and admiration. That in the 

 death of Doctor Coppee the Smithsonian Institution and the 

 Board of Regents have suffered the loss of a tried and valued 

 friend, a wise and prudent counsellor, whose genial courtesy, 

 well-stored, disciplined mind, and sincere devotion to the in- 

 terests of the Institution will be ever remembered." 



General Wheeler said that " forty years ago he was a pupil 

 of Doctor Coppee, and from that time to his death, owing to 

 various connections and associations, by correspondence and 



6* 



