diff --git a/include/chaiscript/dispatchkit/dispatchkit.hpp b/include/chaiscript/dispatchkit/dispatchkit.hpp
index 2507528..6182bff 100644
--- a/include/chaiscript/dispatchkit/dispatchkit.hpp
+++ b/include/chaiscript/dispatchkit/dispatchkit.hpp
@@ -330,6 +330,13 @@ namespace chaiscript
         return  std::vector<std::pair<std::string, std::multimap<std::string, Proxy_Function >::mapped_type> >(range.first, range.second);
       }
 
+     /**
+      * Return true if a function exists
+      */
+     bool function_exists(const std::string &name) const
+     {
+       return m_functions.find(name) != m_functions.end();
+     }
 
       /**
        * Get a vector of all registered functions
diff --git a/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_engine.hpp b/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_engine.hpp
index 5491f94..5c60432 100644
--- a/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_engine.hpp
+++ b/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_engine.hpp
@@ -166,6 +166,8 @@ namespace chaiscript
 
             engine.add(fun(boost::function<std::string (Boxed_Value)>(boost::bind(&chaiscript::type_name, boost::ref(engine), _1))),
                 "type_name");
+            engine.add(fun(boost::function<bool (const std::string &)>(boost::bind(&Eval_Engine::function_exists, boost::ref(engine), _1))),
+                "function_exists");
 
             engine.add(vector_type<std::vector<Boxed_Value> >("Vector"));
             engine.add(string_type<std::string>("string"));
diff --git a/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_prelude.hpp b/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_prelude.hpp
index e3bb76b..e495847 100644
--- a/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_prelude.hpp
+++ b/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_prelude.hpp
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 
 #define chaiscript_prelude CODE_STRING(\
 def new(x) { eval(type_name(x))(); } \
-def clone(x) { eval(type_name(x))(x); } \
+def clone(x) : function_exists(type_name(x))  { eval(type_name(x))(x); } \
 # to_string for Pair()\n\
 def to_string(x) : call_exists(first, x) && call_exists(second, x) { \
   "<" + x.first.to_string() + ", " + x.second.to_string() + ">"; \