"And that is error?" I asked.
"You say truly, sir; it is error. Your own experience disproves it. If memory is necessary, you have lost your personality; but you have a personality,--permit me to say a strong one,--and whose have you taken?"
"I do remember some things," said I.
"Then do you not agree with me that your very memory is proof that you are not double? But, if you please, take the case of any one. Every one has been an infant, yet he cannot remember what happened when he was in swaddling clothes, though he is the same person now that he was then, which proves that although a person loses his memory, he does not on that account, sir, lose his identity."
"Then what is the test of identity, Captain?"
"It needs none, sir; consciousness of self is involuntary."
"I have consciousness of self; yet I do not know who I am, except that I am I."
"Every man might say the same words, sir," said he, smiling.
"And I am distinct? independent?"
"Jones, my dear fellow, there are many intelligent people in the world who, I dare say, would think us demented if they should know that we are seriously considering such a question."