Talk:Francis Ellingwood Abbot

Rev. Abbot and Hale v. Everett (N.H. 1868)
I added several paragraphs concerning the landmark case of Hale v. Everett, 53 N.H. 9 (1868), in which New Hampshire's highest court ruled that the Rev. Francis Ellingwood Abbot was doctrinally unsound and insufficiently Christian to serve his Unitarian congregation. I've included quotations drawn from the opinion for flavor, and added a contrasting laudatory quotation from Frederick Douglass - - to show that some deeply appreciated Abbot's work.

This information is based on research I did for an article published by the George Mason University Civil Rights Law Journal.

Eric Alan Isaacson 00:18, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

Scientific Method
I have searched for some time now for the earliest sketch of the scientific method in its modern form. Abbot's description from Scientific Theism is the earliest I have so far:

"This method consists essentially in three distinct steps : (1) observation and experiment, (2) hypothesis, (3) verification by fresh observation..." (p. 60).

I have no idea if Abbot picked this up from another source, or condensed the method down to these steps from his own reading. --ChrisSteinbach (talk) 23:31, 11 February 2008 (UTC)