The galvanic currents between amalgam and gold alloy electrodes were higher in saline solutions than in saliva. Conventional amalgam supported higher currents than high copper amalgams when short-circuited with a gold alloy. The galvanic currents were not affected or affected only to a very small degree when whole saliva from different persons were compared. Higher currents were recorded when short-circuiting conventional amalgam and gold alloy electrodes using parotid saliva than when using whole saliva collected from one person. However, removing molecules with a molecular weight higher than 10(4) from whole and parotid saliva did not seem to affect the galvanic currents.