DB_common escapeSimple() not found

DB-1.7.6/DB/common.php call DB_common::quoteSmart($str) in my script (which has previously used DB methods fine): Fatal error: Call to undefined function: escapesimple() in /usr/local/php/lib/php/DB/common.php on line 434 This is pretty strange. PHP refuses to recognize escapeSimple method called from quoteSmart(). This happens whether i call DB_common::quoteSmart() or DB_pgsql::quoteSmart(). My only work-around was to edit the source to perform the str_replace() directly within quoteSmart() rather than passing the value to escapeSimple(). Am i losing my mind? Nothing at all seems odd about the source. Can anyone reproduce this? brian