Powder and dust

Meaning

Powder and dust name conditions of matter in the dialogue, but their argumentative roles differ. Nature describes a prepared matter as powder within her account of the worker's limited assistance. The answering alchemist speaks of matter reduced to dust and of Nature passing into a dust-like being, while reserving the decisive transformation to her. His later discussion of gold says that even producing a proper powder would require subtle art; it does not follow that powdering has returned gold to first matter. The translation's “dust-like being” preserves the unusual Staubwesen instead of pretending that it is a standard substance name. Physical fineness and metaphysical reduction remain separate questions.