diff --git a/IPython/utils/importstring.py b/IPython/utils/importstring.py
index cbb6101..e7e1da2 100644
--- a/IPython/utils/importstring.py
+++ b/IPython/utils/importstring.py
@@ -22,13 +22,20 @@ def import_item(name):
     """Import and return bar given the string foo.bar."""
     package = '.'.join(name.split('.')[0:-1])
     obj = name.split('.')[-1]
-#    execString = 'from %s import %s' % (package, obj)
-#    try:
-#        exec execString
-#    except SyntaxError:
-#        raise ImportError("Invalid class specification: %s" % name)
-#    exec 'temp = %s' % obj
-#    return temp
+    
+    # Note: the original code for this was the following.  We've left it
+    # visible for now in case the new implementation shows any problems down
+    # the road, to make it easier on anyone looking for a problem.  This code
+    # should be removed once we're comfortable we didn't break anything.
+    
+    ## execString = 'from %s import %s' % (package, obj)
+    ## try:
+    ##     exec execString
+    ## except SyntaxError:
+    ##     raise ImportError("Invalid class specification: %s" % name)
+    ## exec 'temp = %s' % obj
+    ## return temp
+
     if package:
         module = __import__(package,fromlist=[obj])
         return module.__dict__[obj]