SEVENTY-THIRD EXHIBITION.
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Arthur Rogers, Messrs. E. B. Beauchamp, F. J. Bowles (Mayor of
Falmouth), J. H. Collins, Wilson L. Fox, C. S. Goldman, M.P.,
Henry Jenner, Edward Kitto, E. W. Newton, G. F. Thomas Peter,
and others.
The President’s inaugural address on “ The Weather,” a subject
of some interest during the summer of 1912, was listened to with
great attention. The full text of it will appear elsewhere in this
Report.
Mr. E. W. Newton, the Secretary, reported very fully on the
objects exhibited. It was six years since the Exhibition had been
held at Falmouth, and he thought that they would all agree that
although this Exhibition was not so large as on the two previous
occasions, it was equally interesting, and the exhibits generally
were equal to anything that had been shown at any Polytechnic
Exhibition in Falmouth. Perhaps the most interesting exhibit
was the model of the first locomotive, and incidentally of the first
motor car ever known. This was made by Wm. Murdoch in 1787,
quite 20 or 30 years before Trevithick made his first engine.
Murdock at that time lived at Fish Cross, Redruth, and was an
exceptionally clever engineer. He was the Cornish representative
of the firm of Boulton and Watt, the great engineers, and most
of the improvements in the Cornish pumping engine were due to
his skill and genius. This year they had made a special feature
of electricity and its application to household requirements.
The flexibility of electricity was remarkable. He alluded to some
of its uses, remarking upon the demonstrations that could be seen
in the Exhibition. A very interesting electrical mining pump was
exhibited by Haslam and Schontheil. The natural history section
was exceptionally good. Perhaps the most valuable exhibit to the
county would be the splendid collection of Tin specimens exhibited
by Col. Sir Wm. Sergeant, as they were a specialised collection of
a portion of the county, viz., Mid-Cornwall. It contained speci-
mens of metallic tin smelted either by the Phoenicians or the