diff --git a/dune/elasticity/assemblers/localfestiffness.hh b/dune/elasticity/assemblers/localfestiffness.hh
index f8a62e89116b0b833aaf374c52553233fd1c6285..f2d13cb54d0c3f5da2fdcfe30c70efa5bfa2ca17 100644
--- a/dune/elasticity/assemblers/localfestiffness.hh
+++ b/dune/elasticity/assemblers/localfestiffness.hh
@@ -28,26 +28,12 @@ public:
     virtual void assembleGradientAndHessian(const Entity& e,
                                  const LocalFiniteElement& localFiniteElement,
                                  const VectorType& localConfiguration,
-                                 VectorType& localGradient);
+                                 VectorType& localGradient) = 0;
 
     // assembled data
     Dune::Matrix<Dune::FieldMatrix<RT,blocksize,blocksize> > A_;
 
 };
 
-
-// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-//   Compute gradient by finite-difference approximation
-// ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-template <class GridType, class LocalFiniteElement, class VectorType>
-void LocalFEStiffness<GridType, LocalFiniteElement, VectorType>::
-assembleGradientAndHessian(const Entity& element,
-                const LocalFiniteElement& localFiniteElement,
-                const VectorType& localConfiguration,
-                VectorType& localGradient)
-{
-  DUNE_THROW(Dune::NotImplemented, "!");
-}
-
 #endif