diff --git a/Lib/octave/octrunclass.swg b/Lib/octave/octrunclass.swg
index 2310a45b8..3070e79d1 100644
--- a/Lib/octave/octrunclass.swg
+++ b/Lib/octave/octrunclass.swg
@@ -329,18 +329,6 @@ long SwigOctType::swig_this() const
   return (long) types[0].second.ptr;
 }
 
-const char* SwigOctType::help_text() const
-{
-  if (!types.size()) {
-    return 0;
-  }
-  if (!types[0].first->clientdata) {
-    return 0;
-  }
-  SwigOctClass* c = (SwigOctClass*) types[0].first->clientdata;
-  return c->constructor_doc;
-}
-
 std::string SwigOctType::swig_type_name() const
 {
   // * need some way to manually name subclasses.
diff --git a/Lib/octave/octrundecl.swg b/Lib/octave/octrundecl.swg
index 6452aec97..c451f6951 100644
--- a/Lib/octave/octrundecl.swg
+++ b/Lib/octave/octrundecl.swg
@@ -317,7 +317,6 @@ public:
   static bool				dispatch_global_op(const std::string& symbol, const octave_value_list& args, octave_value& ret);
   static octave_value			dispatch_unary_op(const octave_base_value& x, const char* op_name);
   octave_base_value*			empty_clone() const;
-  const char*				help_text() const;
   void					incref();
   bool					is_defined() const;
   virtual bool				is_map() const;