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General ConsiderationsThe electrical characteristics of galvanic cells depend on a number of factors, including the type of anodic and cathodic materials and their size, as well as the electrolyte composition. The cathodic materials investigated can be divided into two broad categories, those that supply their own depolarizer (e.g., silversilver chloride) and those that use the oxygen available in the body as the depolarizer (e.g., carbon or platinum). Of the self-depolarizing cathodes, the one most extensively tested has been silver-silver chloride, and of the oxygen-depolarized cathodes, platinum black. Many anodic materials have been tried, including magnesium, aluminum, iron, manganese, and zinc. Of these, we have concentrated mainly on zinc. This stems from the fact that zinc has good electrochemical properties, i.e., it produces large potentials at high current densities and seems to be well tolerated by the body. A search through the literature revealed that the body can cope with more zinc by at least an order of magnitude than that released by a 500-microwatt (pw) galvanic source.11This study was supported in part by grants from the Ontario Heart Foundation . 645