Physics and Politics Author:Walter Bagehot Walter Bagehot was a 19th century British businessman, essayist, and journalist. He studied law but chose to enter his fatherŽs shipping and banking business. He worked as editor-in-chief of The Economist. In Physics and Politics, or, Thoughts on the application of the principles of "natural selection" and "inheritance" to political society ... more »(1872) he coined the still-current expression, "the cake of custom," to describe the tension between social institutions and innovations. The Table of Contents includes The Preliminary Age, The use of conflict, Nation-making, The age of discussion, and Verifiable progress politically considered.« less