# File temp/element.rb, line 1148
                def delete( attribute )
                        name = nil
                        prefix = nil
                        if attribute.kind_of? Attribute
                                name = attribute.name
                                prefix = attribute.prefix
                        else
                                attribute =~ Namespace::NAMESPLIT
                                prefix, name = $1, $2
                                prefix = '' unless prefix
                        end
                        old = fetch(name, nil)
                        attr = nil
                        if old.kind_of? Hash # the supplied attribute is one of many
                                attr = old.delete(prefix)
                                if old.size == 1
                                        repl = nil
                                        old.each_value{|v| repl = v}
                                        store name, repl
                                end
                        elsif old.nil?
                                return @element
                        else # the supplied attribute is a top-level one
                                attr = old
                                res = super(name)
                        end
                        @element
                end