diff --git a/lib/mongo/cursor.rb b/lib/mongo/cursor.rb
index 9b61818..652d7af 100644
--- a/lib/mongo/cursor.rb
+++ b/lib/mongo/cursor.rb
@@ -307,13 +307,6 @@ module Mongo
     # @return [Boolean]
     def closed?; @closed; end
 
-    # Is this cursor alive on the server?
-    #
-    # @return [Boolean]
-    def alive?
-      @cursor_id && @cursor_id != 0
-    end
-
     # Returns an integer indicating which query options have been selected.
     #
     # @return [Integer]
diff --git a/test/cursor_test.rb b/test/cursor_test.rb
index 2813ba9..7942169 100644
--- a/test/cursor_test.rb
+++ b/test/cursor_test.rb
@@ -32,21 +32,6 @@ class CursorTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
     assert_kind_of Numeric, explaination['nscanned']
   end
 
-  def test_alive
-    batch = []
-    5000.times do |n|
-      batch << {:a => n}
-    end
-    @@coll.insert(batch)
-    cursor = @@coll.find
-    assert !cursor.alive?
-    cursor.next
-    assert cursor.alive?
-    cursor.close
-    assert !cursor.alive?
-    @@coll.remove
-  end
-
   def test_count
     @@coll.remove