This section is from "The Domestic Encyclopaedia Vol1", by A. F. M. Willich. Amazon: The Domestic Encyclopaedia.
Application, in a general sense, signifies the art of bringing things together, in order to discover their mutual agreement or relation to each other. It is also familiarly used to express the study or consideration of any subject, and includes the idea of assiduity and persevering attention.
In the Economy of Human Life, we meet with the following short sentence, in praise of application: "Since the days that are past, are gone for ever, and those that are to come, may never appear, it be-hoveth thee, oh! man, to employ the present time without vainly regretting the loss of that which is past, or too much depending on that which is to come. This instant is thine ; the next is in the womb of futurity; and thou know-est not what it may bring forth."
 
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