[The case of Maria Theresia Paradis (1759-1824). On the treatment of (hysterical?) amaurosis in a musician with music and suggestion].

The musician and composer Maria Theresia Paradis (1759-1824) blind since her earliest childhood was treated in 1777 by the physician Dr. Franz-Anton Mesmer (1734-1815). The treatment he used was the so-called "magnetic therapy". This was a suggestive psychotherapeutical method by which, as he thought, the amaurosis could be cured. The most essential agency of this "magnetic therapy" was music. However, the resistance of both his colleagues and the patient's family forced him to break off the therapy. Maria Theresia Paradis remained blind till the end of her life. The genesis of the amaurosis, the problem of a real therapeutical influence by Mesmer and, especially, the relationship between the music as a therapeutical medium and the musical personality of the patient are discussed in detail. The whole care cannot be cleared up definitively. There are many indications that Mesmer succeeded in improving temporarily a hysterical amaurosis of Maria Theresia Paradis.