Aromatherapy History: More Recent Developments
Aromatherapy history during the nineteenth century was when modern-day scientific research of essential oils came into being. This included the first chemical analysis of essential oils. In 1910, for example, the researcher Otto Wallach won a Nobel prize for his work on the chemical composition of essential oils. Before World War II, essential oils were studied as much as pharmaceutical drugs.Here’s what you’ll find on this page.
Aromatherapy History: Gattefossé René-Maurice Gattefossé (1881-1950) is important in the history of aromatherapy because he introduced the term “aromatherapy.” In his time, essential oils were used in much the same way as drugs, even in orthodox medicine in France, in treating both symptoms and disease. Health professionals were also aware of the psychological effects of essential oils. Gattefossé’s knowledge came mostly by design and partly by accident. His work as a chemist in the perfume industry meant that he knew a great deal about essential oils. However, an unexpected explosion in his laboratory left his hand badly burned. He immediately immersed it into a nearby vat of lavender essential oil and his burn healed rapidly and without scarring or infection. The term “aromatherapy” was first introduced in his 1937 book, “Aromathérapie: Les Huiles essentiells, hormones végétales,” in which he summarized the body of essential oil knowledge of his day. It includes the pharmacological properties of essential oils and references to over 300 scientific essential oil studies. Aromatherapy history: Valnet Gattefossé shared his knowledge with his colleague, Jean Valnet, who was a medical doctor in Paris. During World War II, Dr. Valnet found himself practicing medicine in Tonkin, China, where he dealt with many battlefield injuries. After exhausting his supply of antibiotics, he had to rely on essential oils and found them most helpful in fighting infections and in saving lives. Two decades later, Dr. Valnet’s landmark book, “Aromathérapie: traitement des maladies par les essences des plantes,” was published. This book summarizes the work of earlier authors and establishes a more modern system for the prescribing of essential oils in orthodox and aromatic medicine. Valnet accomplishes this in a way that lends the information to both medical professionals and to lay people. Here’s a quote – first in English and then in French - from his book. Dr. Valnet writes here of just a few of the many ways that medical doctors can use essential oils. The doctor who is familiar with essential oils can use them to treat a whole range of infections – pulmonary, hepatic, intestinal, urinary, uterine, rhinopharyngeal and cutaneous (infected wounds and suppurating dermatoses). The use of these oils usually produces satisfactory results, provided that they have been prescribed wisely and that, in the case of certain long-standing chronic complaints, the treatment is followed for a long enough period. Aromatic therapy can neutralize enteritis, colitis and putrid fermentations, and can relieve chronic bronchitis and pulmonary tuberculosis. The colon bacillus cannot resist essential oils. Among other medications, aromatherapy is also indicated for cancer, a complaint which is receiving a great deal of attention at the moment.1 Le médecin familiarize avec les nuiles essentielles saura combattre, par leur intervention, la généralité des infections, qu’elles soient pulmonaires, hépatiques, intestinales, urinaires, utérines, rhino-pharyngées, cutanées (plaies infectées, dermatoses suppurantes…). La méthode entraîne une majorité de resultants satisfaisants si les essences prescrites le sont à bon escient et si – pour certaines affections chroniques de longue date – le traitement est poursuivi avec une suffisante perseverance. Les enteritis, les colites, les fermentations putrides sont neutralisées par la thérapeutique aromatique. Les bronchitis chroniques, les tuberculoses pulmonaires relevant de cette medication. La colibacillose et ses manifestations ne resistant pas aux huiles essentielles. La cancérose est justiciable, entre autres medications, du traitement par les essences. 2 What book more than any other brought aromatherapy to the masses? Valnet’s “Aromathérapie.” People who could read French were at an advantage, because this work was available to them beginning in 1964. People who could not read French had to wait for the 1978 translations into English and German. Aromatherapy history: Tisserand Robert Tisserand was instrumental in bringing aromatherapy to the Anglo-Saxon cultures at a time when aromatherapy information was scarce there. His landmark book, “The Art of Aromatherapy,” helped popularize aromatherapy for the lay person and remains a valuable reference today. Tisserand originally used the same high quality oils that the French medical doctors used and advocated using them in the same ways. As time went on, he and many of his followers began using oils that lacked the purity and the therapeutic quality that was common in the oils used by the French medical profession. When oils lack this purity, their uses and application procedures become more restrictive. Even today, there remain disagreements between these two schools of thought. Aromatherapy history: United States In the U.S., the most common form of aromatherapy is recreational – scented candles, essential oils of questionable quality, etc. Why? The U.S. medical education system teaches its future doctors almost nothing about essential oils or medical aromatherapy. American doctors who have been trained in Europe at least through the 1960s and 1970s tend to be much more knowledgeable about essential oils than their American-trained counterparts. I can’t count the number of times I’ve mentioned essential oils to medical doctors and chiropractors and they’ve thought I was referring to omega 3 oils, or omega 6, or omega 9! Aromatherapy History: Encyclopedias and Landmark Texts Now I’d like to return to the history of aromatherapy as medicine. By that, I mean the aromatherapy that was first practiced and propagated by medical doctors and researchers in France. Some used them as pure medicine and others used them as part of a holistic medical practice. Either way, the quality was impeccable. In Europe, essential oils have received serious research for decades. I’d like to share with you some landmark encyclopedias and texts relating to scientific and medical aromatherapy.
THE FUTURE The future of aromatherapy is even more exciting than the past, and the future is even more exciting than the past. Aromatherapy History in the Making is a separate article. 1. Valnet, Jean, M.D. The Practice of Aromatherapy. Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Press, 1982, page 41. 2. Valnet, Jean, M.D. Aromathérapie: traitement des maladies par les essences des plantes. Paris, France: Maloine, 1975, 7th edition, page 71.
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