Fibrinous pleurisy demands no dietetic treatment unless effusion follows it.

Pleurisy with effusion necessitates a nutritous diet to maintain strength, and one that will promote a reabsorption of the exudate if possible. Simple foods containing little fluid are the best. No beverages should be used except water, and that should be taken in as small quantities as possible. In this way the rapidity with which an effusion develops will be lessened or its amount will be limited, and if inflammation has subsided, a rapid absorption of the exudate will be promoted, as the system will satisfy its demands for fluid by drawing upon what is stored in the pleural cavity.

Tender lean meat, breads, a mealy potato, spinach, lettuce, or string-beans constitute a list of suitable foods. The patient must be instructed to drink water as rarely as possible, and then only a swallow at a time. This mode of treatment is of undoubted value. What is known as the Schroth method consists in feeding a patient upon lean roast veal, stale rolls, and a trifle of water for three days, when a half pint of red wine is added and gradually increased to one pint at the end of the week.

A strict milk diet has also been advocated for these cases. One or two quarts are given daily in small hourly doses. There is no advantage in this unless derangement of the stomach or bowels prevents the use of the dry diet.

In spite of dietetic treatment, thoracentesis must often be resorted to. After the mechanical withdrawal of the fluid a dry diet should be maintained for several days, to prevent the reaccumulation of the exudate. To the many cases of tuberculous pleurisy, applies what has been said of the dietetic treatment of phthisis pulmonalis.

Empyema must be treated dietetically as a pleurisy with effusion, but even greater care must be exercised to maintain strength.