diff --git a/lib/parfait/object.rb b/lib/parfait/object.rb
index ab68aa14..00f649f3 100644
--- a/lib/parfait/object.rb
+++ b/lib/parfait/object.rb
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ module Parfait
     def get_internal_word(index)
       name = get_type().name_at(index)
       return nil unless name
-      eval "@#{name}"
+      instance_variable_get("@#{name}".to_sym)
     end
 
     # 1 -based index
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ module Parfait
       raise "not type #{@type.class}" unless @type.is_a?(Type)
       name = @type.name_at(index)
       raise "object type has no name at index #{index} " unless name
-      eval "@#{name} = value"
+      instance_variable_set("@#{name}".to_sym, value)
       value
     end
 
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ module Parfait
     end
 
     # name comes in as a ruby @var name
-    def instance_variable_get name
+    def instance_variable_ged name
       var = get_instance_variable name.to_s[1 .. -1].to_sym
       #puts "getting #{name}  #{var}"
       var
diff --git a/test/parfait/test_space.rb b/test/parfait/test_space.rb
index c2aa8cb4..989059d5 100644
--- a/test/parfait/test_space.rb
+++ b/test/parfait/test_space.rb
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ class TestSpace < MiniTest::Test
   end
 
   def test_types
-    assert  @space.instance_variable_get("@types").is_a? Parfait::Dictionary
+    assert  @space.instance_variable_ged("@types").is_a? Parfait::Dictionary
   end
 
   def test_types_each
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ class TestSpace < MiniTest::Test
   end
 
   def test_types_hashes
-    types = @space.instance_variable_get("@types")
+    types = @space.instance_variable_ged("@types")
     types.each do |has , type|
       assert has.is_a?(Fixnum) , has.inspect
     end
diff --git a/test/parfait/type/test_hash.rb b/test/parfait/type/test_hash.rb
index 9a7a9242..0100e9b6 100644
--- a/test/parfait/type/test_hash.rb
+++ b/test/parfait/type/test_hash.rb
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ class TypeHash < MiniTest::Test
   def setup
     Risc.machine.boot
     @space = Parfait.object_space
-    @types = @space.instance_variable_get("@types")
+    @types = @space.instance_variable_ged("@types")
     @first = @types.values.first
   end