EEPORT OF THE SECRETAEY. 35 



favorite study in hours of relaxation was that of the sacred poetry of 

 the early Christian Church, some of which he had translated, though 

 not for publication. 



In 1884 he was chosen a Regent of this Institution, to succeed the 

 Reverend Dr. Parker. For ten years he gave conscientious attention 

 to its interests, and upheld in every way those conservative and dig- 

 nified traditions of which I have already spoken of him as almost the 

 living embodiment; and while he did this primarily because of their 

 harmony with his own personal tendencies and convictions as to their 

 value, he did so 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 con- 

 fident. After Henry's death, Dr. Welling consented to add to his 

 already burdensome duties those of the chairman of the executive com- 

 mittee, which he performed till his own death, so that he may be said 

 to have been a link between the past and present in the history of this 

 Institution, though happily not the only one, since it has preserved 

 others in his contemporaries. 



At a meeting of the Board of Regents in January, 1895, the following 

 resolutions were adopted: 



Whereas the members of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian 

 Institution have been called upon to mourn the death of their esteemed 

 colleague, the late James C. Welling, LL. D., president of Columbian 

 University, who has long been interested in the welfare of the Insti- 

 tution, and who for many years has been a Regent and chairman of its 

 executive committee, 



Resolved, That the Board of Regents feel deep regret in the loss of 

 one whose long and distinguished career of public usefulness, especially 

 in the promotion of institutions for higher education, commanded their 

 respect, and whose personal character and unselfish devotion to the 

 highest ideals of scholarship and citizenship, their sincere admiration. 



Resolved, That in the death of President Welling the Smithsonian 

 Institution has suffered the irreparable loss of an earnest friend, a wise 

 and judicious counselor, and one who was preeminently an exponent 

 of its time-honored policy, and the Board of Regents a friend and 

 associate whom they valued most highly. 



Resolved, That these resolutions be recorded in the journal of the 

 proceedings of the Board, and that the secretary be requested to send 

 a copy of them to the family of their departed associate and friend, in 

 token of sympathy in this common affliction. 



HENRY COPP^E. 



Henry Copp6e, LL. D., a member of the executive committee of the 

 Board of Regents of the Institution, died March 21, 1895, in his seventy- 

 fourth year. He was appointed Regent January 19, 1874, was reap- 

 pointed by Congress every six years, and during that score of years 

 constantly took the deepest interest in the work of the Institution. 



Dr. Copp^e was born in Savannah, Gra., October 13, 1821, and was 

 of French ancestry. 



