The conclusion of the argument is: "This finding is of great significance, since it not only strongly supports the hypothesis that B36 was printed by Gutenberg but also hows that the presence of titanium in the ink of the purportedly fifteenth-century Vinland Map can no longer be regarded as a reason for doubting the map's authenticity." Why? "Until recently it was thought that ink used before the sixteenth century did not contain titanium." But, a new type of analysis has detected titanium in both the ink of "the famous Bible printed by Johannes Gutenberg and in that of another fifteenth century Bible known as B36, though not in the ink of any of numerous other fifteenth century books analyzed."
So, the findings showing us that titanium is present in the Bible printed by Gutenberg and in B36 strongly support the hypothesis that B36 was printed by Gutenberg. How? Well the reasoning behind this is that titanium in ink is so rare that it must have come from one person, i.e. since the Bible printed by Gutenberg had titanium in the ink, B36, which also has titanium in it, was probably also printed by Gutenberg (the use of titanium in ink being a somewhat unique characteristic of a person).
The stimulus, however, also states that the findings also strongly support that the "presence of titanium in the ink of the purportedly fifteenth-century Vinland Map can no longer be regarded as a reason for doubting the map's authenticity." So, the reasoning behind this is that titanium present in ink was so prevalent before the sixteenth century, that its presence in the Vinland Map cannot be a reason for doubting the map's authenticity, since titanium being present in ink before the sixteenth century was common and not unheard of.
Notice that the author is simultaneously arguing that use of titanium in ink in the fifteenth century was both rare and common.
Answer choice (A) delineates this discrepancy in the stimulus's reasoning, i.e. "The results of the analysis are interpreted as indicating that the use of titanium as an ingredient in fifteenth century ink both was, and was not, extremely restricted."
Hope that helped! Please let us know if you have any other questions.
BatmanDecember 18, 2013
Wow!!!! It's amazing!!!! Thanks a lot!
Virginia_61092August 7, 2015
Wow, now i feel really dumb for not choosing A. Thanks for the explanation!!!!! It really helped.
