[2] In creating his biscuit, Abernethy was following a trend of other medical practitioners like English William Oliver of Bath, Somerset, inventor of the Bath Oliver; and the American preacher Sylvester Graham, a nutrition expert after whom the graham cracker is named.

[3] The Abernethy biscuit is an adaptation of the plain captain's biscuit or hardtack, with the added ingredients of sugar (for energy), and caraway seeds because of their reputation for having a carminative (prevents flatulence) effect[4] making them beneficial in digestive disorders.

[6] The following are ingredients:[7] When British statesman William Gladstone was Vice-President of the Board of Trade in the 1840s, his luncheon consisted of an Abernethy biscuit, brought to him by his wife.

[8] In the libretto of the comic opera Princess Toto written by W. S. Gilbert (first performance 24 June 1876) the king disguises himself as an Abernethy biscuit.

[9] In Charles Dickens's first novel, The Pickwick Papers, the character Mr. Solomon Pell is found, "in court, regaling himself, ... , with a cold collation of an Abernethy biscuit and a saveloy".