As one journalist wrote in June 1949, alluding to the line in the "Rubaiyat", "the Somerton Man seems to have made certain that the glass would be empty, save for speculation." An editorial called the case "one of Australia's most profound mysteries" and noted that if he died by poison so rare and obscure it could not be identified by toxicology experts, then surely the culprit's advanced knowledge of toxic substances pointed to something more serious than a mere domestic poisoning.