Historian: We can learn about the medical history of individuals thro

I believe D is the answer that links deafness with mercury. That said thanks for the work you put into the forum.

Chris,
Isn't the hypothesis about VD and deafness rather than mercury and deafness?

You are correct I misread the conclusion.

daagh (C) Mercury is an effective treatment for venereal disease vs Mercury was the only known effective treatment for venereal disease vs Mercury was used only as a effective treatment for venereal disease.

I think the original is pretty confusing as he might have ingested mercury accidentally. If so it cannot be an assumption.

I am confused here, can you help?

I misread the problem initially but it made me look back on it. The only way the hypothesis can be correct is if VD caused deafness(I initially misread this). So even if he ingested mercury another way the hypothesis would be wrong. In order to strengthen the hypothesis, we need something that states any mercury found would be as a result of VD. So your theory actually acts as a strengthener for C.

chrisbender the official answer says its B, I also opted for D.

But I am still confused, could not understand.

The hypothesis says VD caused Deafness. Now if the researchers found mercury in his hair, according to the premise "Since mercury was commonly ingested in Beethoven's time to treat venereal disease," Option D is an assumption.

He must have used Mercury to treat VD, but that led to his deafness.

Also, Option C is a reworded statement of the above premise, and since an Assumption should present new information it cannot be the answer.

Assumption = must be true

(A) None of the mercury introduced into the body can be eliminated. WRONG. It can be true or false. So if true, mercury in Beet's hair will be. If false, in theory, mercury can stay in Beet's hair and logic of the passage will be valid.
(B) Some people in Beethoven's time did not ingest mercury. RIGHT. It must be true. Because if it isn't, then several variants can exist: 1. all people didn't ingest, 2. all people ingest, 3. 0 people ingest (same as '1'), 4. 0 people didn't ingest (same as '2') 5. some people ingest (it is the same as our variant 'B', so cross it out). So there are 2 variants, let's prove that these variants don't make sense.
1. All people didn't ingest. This statement can't be true because of evidence in passage "Since mercury was commonly ingested in Beethoven's time to treat venereal disease".
2. All people ingest. If this statement true, then either all people have VD or people ingest mercury for other reasons. The first point doesn't valid according to common sense. The second ruin the passage logic, coz if it true, then we can't conclude that this hypothesis is correct.
So, we just prove that only 'B' can co-exist with the passages' pieces of evidence and ''must be true'' in the logic of the passage.
(C) Mercury is an effective treatment for venereal disease. WRONG. It can be true or false. The deal isn't in an effective treatment, it's in what people THINK in there mind about the effectiveness of treatment. They can think that it's effective, but in fact, it is not. So 2 variant can exist. 1. Mercury is an effective treatment + People think that it is effective = they ingest mercury. 2. Mercury isn't an effective treatment + People think that it is effective = they ingest mercury.
So, logically, 'C' can be true or false and passage logic will be valid.
(D) Mercury poisoning can cause deafness in people with venereal disease. WRONG. It can be true or false. 1. TRUE: MP can cause deafness, passage logic is ok. 2. FALSE: VD itself can cause deafness, without MP. passage logic is ok.
(E) Beethoven suffered from psychological problems of the same severity as Newton's. WRONG. It can be true or false. There is no influence on the passage's logic.

ANSWER B

How b is correct answer and A is incorrect ?

Here author concludes that if researchers find a trace of mercury in his hair, we can conclude that this hypothesis is correct.

Therefore, author assumes that at that time, Beethoven consumed mercury only to treat venereal disease.
GMATNinja egmat

This is sneaky good question and amazing question! I have seen explanations here but nobody got it correct.
B is right. Why?

If everyone took mercury, how will you know that Beethoven ingested mercury to cure VD (note - ingest mercury to cure VD, not just ingest mercury)? Also, note the evidence - Since mercury was commonly ingested in Beethoven's time to treat venereal disease - just before the conclusion (which says that the hypothesis is correct).

Hypothesis is - VD caused Beethoven's deafness.

So, some people didn't ingest mercury - B - is the answer.
May be we need to draw couple of arrows here as the passage talks a lot of things (irrelevant) but we need to focus on conclusion.

Excellent question:

If everyone had mercury ingested, we won't be able to relate and confirm the hypothesis that the mercury was ingested by a particular person to treat the particular disease.

Option B is Correct