diff --git a/src/stepper/stpr_chkhess.F b/src/stepper/stpr_chkhess.F
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ef6d2dad10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/stepper/stpr_chkhess.F
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+      SUBROUTINE stpr_chkhess(HESS)
+c $Id: stpr_chkhess.F,v 1.1 2003-10-17 22:35:29 carlfahl Exp $
+C
+C     This routine checks to make sure the analytic Hessian
+C     is symmetric.
+C
+      IMPLICIT  REAL*8(A-H,O-Z), INTEGER(I-N)
+#include "errquit.fh"
+      LOGICAL LSYM
+      COMMON / DIMS / NAT3, NAT3SQ, NAT3TR
+      DIMENSION HESS(NAT3,NAT3)
+      DATA SYMCHK/1.D-6/
+C
+      DO 00100 I = 2,NAT3
+         LSYM = .TRUE.
+         DO 00100 J = 1,I-1
+            XDIFF = HESS(I,J)-HESS(J,I)
+            XDIFF = DABS(XDIFF)
+            IF(XDIFF.GT.SYMCHK)THEN
+               WRITE(6,*)
+               WRITE(6,*)'  **** Hessian not symmetric ****'
+               WRITE(6,*)'  HESS(',I,',',J,') =',HESS(I,J)
+               WRITE(6,*)'  HESS(',J,',',I,') =',HESS(J,I)
+               WRITE(6,*)
+               LSYM = .FALSE.
+            ENDIF
+00100 CONTINUE
+C
+      IF (LSYM) THEN
+        WRITE(6,*)'  Analytic Hessian passed symmetry test. '
+      else
+        call errquit('stepper:chkhess fatal error',911, UNKNOWN_ERR)
+      END IF
+      RETURN
+      END