Worthington George Smith

"The (certainly one of the most exquisitely delicious of all our fungi) is generally neglected, or regarded with great suspicion. Under the name of 'champillion,' however, it is well known to the weavers and labouring men of the , who may be seen gathering it in considerable numbers any autumn day amongst the short grass of ."

"When potatoes are destroyed by parasitic in the autumn, it does not always happen that the parasite is the dreaded putrefactive fungus of the murrain, named ' Another highly destructive fungus, named ', , is sometimes equally damaging to potatoes with the Peronospora itself. The name Fusisporium refers to the spindle-shaped crescent form of the spores,—fusus a spindle ; Solani of course, refers to the genus to which the potato belongs."

"The mere barbarians, the chippers of rude weapons and tools of stone, who lived in North Britain at the time of the Roman conquest, — the men who had been driven north, ages before the Roman occupation, by from the mainland of Europe, are quite recent as compared with the far-off time when primeval savages lived in what is now Britain. The barbarians who preceded the ancient civilisations of , , and are modern as compared with the remote antiquity of the savages whose bones, weapons, and tools are here described and sketched."

"The first stage coach passed through on Monday, April 12th, 1742. ... , presented great difficulties for coaches, seven or eight horses were required to take the coach from Brewer's Hill Road to the top of the hill."

"Mr. Worthington Smith has devoted himself for many years to a study of the localities near London where implements have been found, and has described the various floors with great minuteness, and illustrated them with great artistic skill. In this book he brings all his previous discoveries together, and groups them round his last work at , near , on the borders of and . He has presented to us a monograph on palæolithic camping-places, rather than a general treatise on Man, the Primeval Savage."

"Worthington Smith was an important member of the group of archaeologists whose work established as a discipline in Britain. He observed, meticulously recorded and published traces of some of the best sites ever to come to light in England. While his overview of the period has inevitably not stood the test of time, his publications remain of great value for the factual information they contain, and for his fine illustrations. Most of his artefact collections also survive, well-documented in spite of the loss of many of his written notes, and these too are important."