If you could have seen the expression of scorn that darkened my countenance a moment ago, and was instantly split from the center in every direction like a fractured looking-glass by my last sneeze, you never would have written that disgraceful question.

Conchology is a science which has nothing to do with mathematics; it relates only to shells.

At the same time, however, a man who opens oysters for a hotel, or shells a fortified town, or sucks eggs, is not, strictly speaking, a conchologist--a fine stroke of sarcasm that, but it will be lost on such an unintellectual clam as you.

Now compare conchology and geometry together, and you will see what the difference is, and your question will be answered.

But don't torture me with any more arithmetical horrors until you know I am rid of my cold.