The term "aromatherapie" was coined by Rene Maurice Gattefosse in 1928. He utilized the word to imply the therapeutic use of aromatic substances (essential oils).One could say that aromatherapy is as old as man’s relationship to the plant kingdom and so the beginning of aromatherapy is shrouded in the mists of time. No one knows the identity of the first person to recognize the healing properties of plants but detailed recipes using aromatic compounds are given in the Old Testament and well sealed urns filled with aromatic resins have been unearthed in the tombs of Pharaohs.
The Egyptians and Aromatherapy
The contribution of the ancient Egyptians to the history of aromatherapy is significant. While aromatic substances also played important roles in the medicinal prac¬tices of the Hebrew, Arabic and Indian civilizations, the ancient Egyptians regarded aromatherapy as a way of life. At about the time that the Chinese were developing acupuncture, the Egyptians were using bal¬samic substances in both religious ritual and medicine. Records dating back to 4500BC tell of perfumed oils, scented barks and resins, of spices, aromatic vinegars, wines and beers all used in medicine, ritual, astrology and embalming.
Translations of hieroglyphics inscribed on papyri and steles found in the temple of Edfu indicate that aromatic substances were blended to specific formulations by the high priests and alchemists to make perfumes and medicinal potions. The priests knew of the power of certain smells to raise the spirits of their congregation, or to promote a state of tranquillity. A favourite perfume was the famous kyphi, a mixture of sixteen different essences - including myrrh and juniper - and this was inhaled to heighten the senses and spiritual awareness of the priests.
If the Ancient Egyptians perfected the art of using the essences of plants to control emotion, putrefaction and disease, new discoveries of the medicinal power of plants continued to be made. The Greeks, for instance, developed medicine from a part-superstition to a science. Hippocrates, popularly known as the Father of Medicine, was the first physician to base medical knowledge and treatment on accurate observation, and ever since, of course, doctors have adhered to his principles outlined in the Hippocratic Oath. One of his beliefs was that a daily aromatic bath and a scented massage were the way to health, very much a central principle of today's aromatherapy.
At the height of the power of Rome, it was 'immigrant' Greek phy¬sicians and seekers after knowledge who dominated the medical world. One of these was Dioscorides, a Greek surgeon in Nero's army, who wrote De Materia Medica, a comprehensive textbook on the properties and uses of medicinal plants.
The Romans, although more interested in the culinary than the medical properties of plants, were botanically enormously influential. As the legions advanced over Europe, the soldiers took with them seeds of the plants they needed or could not live without, to cultivate in the countries they occupied. Many herbal plants in England - parsley, fennel and lovage, for instance - were introduced by the Romans.
Towards the Renaissance
Although rational medicine declined in Europe after these early begin¬nings, it still continued in China and India. The Arabs, whose civilization advanced from the fourth century AD, were also keeping the scientific spirit alive. An Arab was one of the founders of the famous medical school at Salerno, near Naples, and the Arabian physician Avicenna's book, Canon of Medicine, published in the eleventh century, remained a standard work until the mid-sixteenth century. Avicenna was also thought to be responsible for the invention of distillation as a means of extracting essences from plants, and many of his principles are still in use today. Great explorers and colonisers, the Arabs spread their knowledge throughout the known world. They were also great traders, and to a large extent were responsible for introducing many new plants from the East - spices in particular - which were used both in cooking and medicine.
The Middle Ages in Europe, stretching from roughly the sixth century to the Renaissance in the fourteenth century, was not an inspired time in terms of medical advance.
The European Herbalists
The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were the times of the great herbals in Europe, the British ones including those of Gerard, Parkinson and Culpeper. With the outbreak of plague again in 1665, methods of dealing with the disease had not advanced much from those employed 300 years before.
Thereafter, though, knowledge grew in leaps and bounds, with the founding of the Royal Society in Britain, the plant classifications of Linnaeus, the explorations of Cook, and with many amazing medical discoveries such as digitalis, vaccination for smallpox, quinine and anaesthesia
Aromatherapy in the Twentieth Century
It was not until the beginning of this century that a French chemist and scholar, Dr R M Gattefosse, rekindled interest in aromatherapy - a term he actually coined and about which he wrote several books. He explained at length the properties of essential oils and their methods of application, with examples of their antiseptic, bactericidal, anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties. He related how, after burning his hand in the laboratory, he plunged the hand into the nearest receptacle which happened to contain essential oil of lavender; he was astonished at how quickly the pain ceased and the skin healed.
Around the same time that Dr R M Gattefosse wrote his first book on aromatherapy, Sir Alexander Fleming discovered the antibiotic penicillin. This was a 'natural' cure as well, being isolated from a culture of mould. Today, of course, natural penicillin is no longer used, for its constituents were identified long ago and it is now synthesized in the laboratory. Perhaps that is the reason why so many people have allergic reactions to penicillin, resulting in eczema and swelling: the artificial variety is considerably stronger than its natural counterpart.
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