1. taste, galvanic The effect produced upon the gustatory nerves by the passage of an electric current, or by the maintenance of potential difference between two portions of the tongue. It is very simply produced by placing a silver coin above, and a piece of zinc below the tongue, or the reverse, and touching their edges. A sour, peculiar taste is at once perceived. It cannot be due to any measurable quantity of current or of electrolytic decomposition, because the couple can do little more than establish a potential difference. With a strong current the taste becomes too strong for comfort, and if on a telegraph line the extra currents produced by the signaling make the operation of tasting the current a very unpleasant one. It is said that messages have been received in this way, the receiver placing one terminal of the line on his tongue, and a terminal attached to a grounded wire below it, and then receiving the Morse characters by taste.
Definitions of taste, galvanic
