Bran, flour, and bread

Meaning

The Way of Truth narrator accuses philosophical sayings of offering readers coarse bran while their authors bake bread from the sifted flour. Bran, flour and bread mark an inequality between an outward residue and an inward benefit retained by those who know. This is a criticism of how secretive instruction works, not a recommendation to use cereal products in the work. The image leads directly into warnings about lost money, family poverty and poisonous laboratory fumes. The English preserves the three distinct food terms, making the accusation sharper than a general statement that the books are obscure: their readers labour with what has already been deprived of value.