What the ten qualities do

Dryness provokes vāta, heat provokes pitta and blood, subtlety lets poison spread through the finest parts of the body, and sharpness breaks the body parts and vital points. Pervasiveness carries it through the whole body, quickness kills fast, the loosening quality agitates the dhātus and clarity lets it enter them. The commentary adds that its lightness makes it impossible to draw out by any treatment and that, being indigestible, it causes great distress unless promptly eliminated, so it must be pacified by suitable means.