Ten qualities of poison

Poison is said to have ten qualities: dry (rūkṣa), hot (uṣṇa), sharp (tīkṣṇa), quick (āśu), pervasive (vyāpaka or vyavāyī, spreading through the whole body before being digested), indigestible (apāki), light (laghu), loosening (vikarṣi or vikāśi, slackening the joints), subtle (sūkṣma, entering the finest channels) and clear (viśada, free of sliminess); a poison having these ten kills quickly.

By its dryness poison provokes vāta, by its heat pitta and blood; by subtlety it spreads quickly into the finest parts of the whole body, and by sharpness it breaks the body parts and vital points (marma).

By pervasiveness it quickly fills the whole body, by quickness it kills fast, by its loosening quality it agitates all the dhātus, and by clarity it enters all the dhātus.

The commentary says that because of its lightness no treatment can draw poison out of the body, and that being indigestible it causes great suffering unless it is eliminated quickly; all poisons are dreadful and must be pacified by suitable means.