"The ego is a rather deep subject," replied the doctor thoughtfully. "The question 'What is this that am I?' is one pondered for many thousands of years. It is still without answer—though it is generally accepted that a man is what he is because of his lifetime of experiences."
"Will you expand upon that, doctor?"
The doctor nodded. "A new-born babe has little true identity or individuality. That is because his only experience is almost congruent with all other new-born babes. As he lives, his experiences will differ because of environment and heredity from others—in the case of twins this is true despite the idea that the environment and heredity is identical. It is not. The environment of Twin A includes the life of Twin B, and vice versa. Therefore each twin must evolve a different identity. As a man grows and enjoys experience, each factor changes his personality in some way major or minor, and he emerges a true identity, which, however, is different in some minor way from day to day as his experiences accumulate."
"Then at the instant of duplication, the two persons have approximately the same identity?"
"Yes save for the single fact that one has just been in the process of formation whilst the other was in the process of being recorded. I assume that the two processes are not identical."
"Then," said Cranshaw, facing the jury, "may I point out that no identity was really removed from the face of this earth by this so-called killing. But one birth certificate was issued for Harry Foster. But one Harry Foster lived and grew and became the Harry Foster that many people knew as a motion picture star. A duplicate Harry Foster was made, and then eliminated. Harry Foster was killed—and yet Harry Foster remains! If the law states a life for a life, we have it in the person of the living Harry Foster! He—killed himself."
Cranshaw smiled indulgently. "There are laws concerning suicide," he said. "These laws make suicide a felony. Because of this there have been many jokes made about the penalty for suicide, but there is good reason for such laws. You see, Gentlemen of the Jury, it is not necessary to wait until the burglar emerges from the bank with his coat pockets bulging to arrest him. You may apprehend him while he is drilling his way into the bank for the crime of Attempting To Compound A Felony. An attempt at suicide is, then, an attempt to compound a felony and the would-be suicide may be apprehended for his own protection. Since the penalties for attempted suicide usually consist of compelling the miscreant to undergo psychiatric treatment to remove the obvious mental unrest that gave him the will to self-destruction, I suggest that my client be given the same treatment for the crime of suicide."
He sat down. "Now," he said with a smile, "that should hang that jury higher than a kite. What is the penalty for successful suicide? Not execution—"
"Shut up," snapped Foster.