The Long-Desired and Promised Chemical-Philosophical Touchstone

...said much to his deserved fame *). Although these reports are valuable, they are neither all correct, nor much less satisfying; and Johann von Ravenna John of Ravenna, also known as Giovanni Malpaghini is worthy of having his fate, his character, and his merits depicted as detailed as the few sources allow from which one can draw. The letters of Petrarcha Francesco Petrarch, the famous Italian poet and scholar are the most abundant, especially for the youth history of Johann von Ravenna. I will therefore translate these literally, or communicate them in a complete excerpt, because they paint the genius and the temperament of the teacher and student, as well as the times in which both lived, in a most interesting way and with the liveliest colors.

Johann Malpaghino, usually called Johann von Ravenna from his birthplace, was born in the year 1352 from a lineage that was neither rich nor noble **). Nevertheless, his father sent him to the grammarian Donatus, a trusted friend of Petrarch, which Donatus taught the Latin language with great applause in Venice around that time. Donatus believed he discovered so many fortunate talents in the young Malpaghino that he recommended him to Petrarch not only as a faithful assistant for reading aloud, dictating, and transcribing, but also as a budding youth who was worthy of being educated by the greatest scholar of the fourteenth century. Johann von Ravenna fulfilled and even exceeded the hopes—

*) original: "In vita Ambrosii Traverf. p. 348-353. One may also see my thoughts on Johann von Ravenna in the new Historical Magazine, Volume III, Part 1, page 35 and following."
**) original: "Mehus l. c." This refers to Lorenzo Mehus, an 18th-century scholar and editor.