24. The interstitial nucleus, a sub-region of the brain’s hypothalamus, is typically smaller for male cats than for female cats. A neurobiologist performed autopsies on male cats who died from disease X, a disease affecting no more than .05 percent of male cats, and found that these male cats had interstitial nuclei that were as large as those generally found in female cats. Thus, the size of the interstitial nucleus determines whether or not male cats can contract disease X.

Which one of the following statements, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

A. No female cats have been known to contract disease X, which is a subtype of disease Y.

B. Many male cats that contract disease X also contract disease Z, the cause of which is unknown.

C. the interstitial nuclei of female cats who contact disease X are larger than those of female cats who do not contract disease X.

D. Of 1,000 autopsies on male cats that did not contract disease X, 5 revealed interstitial nuclei larger than those of the average male cat.

E. The hypothalamus is known not to be causally linked to disease Y, and disease X is a subtype of disease Y.

为什么D 不对那？ 请问正确答案是什么？ 谢谢大家

我认为提干的错误就是"causal oversimplification"

The right answer E points out that there are no causality between the two events.

D uses another "causal oversimplification" reasoning to weaken. I think is not right.