This paper in Science is well worth reading in full (HERE). It describes how the methods of Francis Bacon, when combined with a method described by the geologist T.C. Chamberlin from 1897, gives what Platt describes as Strong Inference.
One of the key passages from Chamberlin's paper is below.
An unofficial but full transciption of the Platt paper is HERE.
There is a Wikipedia page describing strong inference and its modifications HERE.
