Chapter 116 Your Son Is Not Your Son
Imperial Physician Sun cleared his throat and prepared to give a long speech. The feeling of expressing his political views in the court was no less dazzling than publicly announcing his achievements at the Nobel Prize in Physics in later generations.
"Doctor Sun, please wait a moment. Actually, I have some knowledge of medicine. How about letting me say a few words first, and then you can add to and improve upon it. How about announcing the results of the investigation?"
Zhao Huan’s meaning was very clear. I want to show my power in front of others.
What could Imperial Physician Sun say? He could only nod in agreement.
"Consanguineous marriage refers to marriage between people who share a common blood relationship within three generations or less."
"Imperial Physician Sun summarized the experience of his predecessors and conducted large-scale research to expand and supplement the scope of close relatives. However, due to the limitations of his medical level, he did not grasp the root cause of the problem."
Imperial Physician Sun: ???
Your Majesty, you are so kind! We are in the same group. You have to stand on my shoulders and move forward!
"Everyone in the court can be said to be the wisest people in the Song Dynasty. Why don't you think seriously about this? Whether it's paternal or maternal bloodline, why is it that infertility or deformed babies are more common? What is the real factor?"
Everyone in the court was confused, and even Doctor Sun fell into deep thought. Looking through the phenomenon to the essence, what is the essence?
Isn't this fate?
Zhao Huan felt extremely satisfied in his heart. What was this? This was a dimensionality reduction attack, using one's strengths to attack the enemy's weaknesses.
It may be roughly similar to this: you tell me 1+1=2, and I ask you how to prove it in general?
Zhao Huan continued, "As the old saying goes, like dragons, like phoenixes, like mice, they dig holes. Sons always bear more resemblance to their fathers, and so on. It can be said that within the human body there is a kind of inheritance that represents identity, passed down from generation to generation."
"This thing is called genes, and the way it's passed down from generation to generation is called heredity."
"Genes certainly have both good and bad qualities, just as people are born different. Close relatives often share many genes, making it easier for recessive, harmful genes that are detrimental to survival to be passed down to their offspring (i.e., homozygous), resulting in the birth of children with inferior qualities."
"According to my medical knowledge, each person in the population carries approximately 5 to 6 genes that cause recessive genetic diseases."
"In non-consanguineous marriages, since the couple are not related by blood, they share very few genes and carry different recessive disease-causing genes, making it difficult for them to form homozygous recessive disease-causing genes."
"In contrast, when close relatives marry, there's a high probability that both spouses carry the same recessive disease-causing gene, which can easily be passed down to their offspring, increasing the incidence of genetic diseases in their offspring."
"Did you understand? Applause!"
The court was completely silent. What genes, what inheritance, what homozygosity? It felt like listening to a foreign language.
"Let me just state the conclusion: compared to non-consanguineous marriages, the risk is eight times greater for second-degree consanguineous marriages, 31 times greater for first-degree consanguineous marriages, and 125 times greater for sibling marriages than for normal random marriages."
"In general, the probability of healthy offspring born from consanguineous marriages is approximately 45%. In other words, more than half will have problems."
Of all the officials in the court, less than half understood Zhao Huan's last words. This figure was truly shocking.
I had never read the relevant data in detail before. I just knew that there was a chance that unhealthy children would be born when close relatives married. I didn't expect it to be so serious.
At this time, due to the generally early childbirth, giving birth is also a dangerous process, and hundreds of thousands of people die from difficult labor every year.
It is so heartbreaking to finally give birth to a child, but it is an unhealthy child.
I don’t know what other people think, but Nie Chang’s heart sank to the bottom. Am I going to be in trouble?
Everyone looked at Doctor Sun: "Doctor Sun, what is the data you found?"
Doctor Sun recovered from his shock and said in disbelief, "They are exactly the same."
"I investigated 3,000 cases of consanguineous marriages in Kaifeng Prefecture over the past two years. Of these, 200 resulted in premature death, 620 in premature deaths, 1,050 inflicted with congenital diseases, mental retardation, and disabilities, and less than half were normal."
"Master Chen from the Imperial College, Master Wang from the Ministry of Revenue, Master Sun from the Ministry of War, and Master Niu from the Privy Council, their children have all gotten married in the past two years and are all within the scope of the investigation. I think they might have something to say."
"That's true. We are lucky that we haven't had any children yet." The people named were all conservative, peace-loving or neutral officials, so their words were quite credible.
Doctor Sun continued, "There are 260 families where the woman's inability to produce children has led to her being neglected, and even caused discord between the two families."
"hiss!"
All the civil and military officials in the court gasped in shock. This proportion had reached almost one-tenth, which was chilling.
In order to improve the relationship between the two families, the purpose of the marriage is to improve the relationship between the two families. In this way, wouldn't it be a step backward instead of a step forward? In this era, in order to maintain their wealth and power for a long time, the rich and powerful generally adopt the method of strong alliance, which is the so-called marriage between the two families.
Imperial Physician Sun chuckled and delivered a powerful blow to Nie Chang: "Let us all thank Lord Nie. The more we argue, the clearer the truth becomes. If it weren't for Lord Nie giving me this opportunity, none of us would have understood it so clearly."
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