The History of Aromatherapy
You may have heard of René-Maurice Gattefossé, a French chemist in the early 1900s who worked with essential oils. He burned his arm badly while working in a perfumery one day and plunged it into the nearest vat of liquid he could find. It was the best thing he could have done, for the vat contained lavender essential oil. He was amazed to find that over the next few days his burn healed with very little pain and even less scarring. Understandably, his interest in essential oils then turned to learning more about their medicinal properties.
The term aromatherapy was coined in 1928 by Gattefossé, nine years before he wrote Gattefossé’s Aromatherapy (Aromathérapie: Les huiles essentielles hormones végétales) in 1937. It is still in print and widely referred to today. Gattefossé, of course, did not discover essential oils; he simply used them in his work.
Essential Oils were used in biblical times. There are 600 references to olive oil and anointing oils throughout the bible in various forms such as fragrance, perfume, and oil. They did not have synthetic substances in biblical times. When they speak of perfume, they are referring to pure essential oil blends; they didn't have the chemical, alcohol based perfumes that are available today. Click here to learn more about biblical oils. 
Egyptians extracted oil from cedar wood through a very crude distillation process. They used other oils, as well, but those were most likely made by infusion. Egyptians are famous for their practice of embalming, and we have them to thank for the many mummies that have been discovered since. Various herbs were used in the embalming process, such as cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, myrrh, and the afore-mentioned cedar wood.
The Greeks learned much about perfumery from the Egyptian civilization, but ended up crediting their own gods with giving them that knowledge. They went a step further than the Egyptians, however, and began looking into the medicinal and healing properties of plants. Hippocrates, called “the father of medicine,” was known to practice fumigations for medicinal and aromatic reasons.
Greek perfumer Megallus created a perfume that he called Megaleion. It included myrrh in a fatty oil base and was valued by the Greeks for its aroma and anti-inflammatory properties. It was also used to heal wounds.
The Roman Empire built upon the early knowledge of the Egyptians and Greeks. Discorides, a Greek who lived from 40-90 AD, wrote a book called De Materia Medica, a book that influenced the Romans greatly and described the properties of approximately 500 plants. The Greek herbalist Galen, who had moved to Rome at the age of 30 to practice medicine, was one of those in Rome influenced by Discorides. He subsequently wrote a treatise which became the medical reference of the Roman world for 1,500 years. Distillation during this time in history focused mainly on floral waters and not essential oils.
Distillation of essential oils began in the 11th century when a Persian named Avicenna invented a coiled cooling pipe. This new pipe allowed vaporized plant essences and steam to cool much faster than with a straight pipe. Avicenna’s invention led to more interest in the production of essential oils. It is also during this century that rose water made by Persians from rosa centifolia became popular. They exported it to their eastern neighbors, China and India, where it was used in medicine and food preparation.
During the Middle Ages, religious orders were known for growing aromatic plants. In the 12th century, Hildegarde von Bingen (1098-1179), an abbess in Germany, grew and distilled lavender for its medicinal properties. She believed lavender was good for many things, such as eye washes (she is credited with inventing “lavender water”), killing lice, maintaining a pure character, and warding off evil spirits. St. Hildegarde wrote “Causae et Curae,” or “Causes and Cures of Illnesses,” a collection of four treatises on the medicinal qualities of herbs.
The pharmaceutical industry was born with the appearance of the first pharmacies in Baghdad in the 13th century. It was during this century that distillation of essential oils really took off. Also, Al-Samarqandi, an Arab physician of the time, wrote about the use of flowers and herbs for aromatherapeutic purposes.
In the 14th century, physicians were still viewing the body as being a microcosm of the larger world. They likened the body’s attributes to the earth’s. Blood was hot and moist, like air; phlegm was cold and moist, like water. Black bile was cold and dry, like dirt, and yellow bile was hot and dry, like fire. Besides having such a view of the body, neither the physicians nor the people they treated knew anything about how diseases were caused and transferred from one person to another.
It’s because of this lack of knowledge that the plague known as the Black Death killed more than 25 million people in Europe – one-fourth of the continent’s population. They were almost powerless to stop its spread. Some perfumers, however, were thought to have avoided catching the plague because of their constant contact with natural aromatics. Herbal preparations were also used by some to fight the disease and protect against it.
In the 15th century, perfumers began distilling other plants, such as frankincense, rose, sage, juniper, and rosemary. The knowledge of how to use herbs became more common and widespread as more people began writing about it. In 1478, King Rene of France purchased lavender essence in Provence for his lady love, and by the 16th century, anyone could purchase plant oils at an apothecary.
A Swiss alchemist and medical doctor, Paracelsus, is one man who made a mark on aromatherapy in the 1400’s. Born as Theophrastus Phillippus Aureolus Bombastus in 1493, one year after Columbus’s famous voyage to the Americas, he picked up much of his knowledge from his father, a physician who was also interested in alchemy. He preferred working with native herbs, from which he derived “essences” (a term he coined) and “tinctures” which he used to replace what he thought of as the strange medical concoctions of his day. He died in 1541 at the young age of 48.
It was during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I that the people of Europe were hit with yet another round of the Black Death. Over 80,000 died in England alone – 20,000 of which were in London. Doctors visiting the sick wore strange costumes of long robes and hats. The robes were to protect them from plague-infested fleas, and to the hats were attached “beaks” that the doctors filled with bergamot oil or other aromatic herbs and flowers. It was believed at this time that herbal scents were not only aromatic, but antiseptic, as well.
Thieves who looted money or valuables from dead bodies and the empty houses of plague victims were often thrown into the “death pit” with the victim’s body. However, a judge in the town of Toulouse, France, set four such looters free in exchange for a recipe called “Four Thieves Vinegar,” or “vinaigre des quatre voleurs.” It is unclear how the thieves used this vinegar, which is believed to have been apple cider vinegar to which lavender, sage, rosemary, and thyme were added, but it most likely kept them from contracting the plague when they went through the victims’ belongings.
The 19th century was an important time scientifically as the major constituents of essential oils were able to be isolated. This knowledge led to the creation of synthetic drugs and chemicals a century later. “Modern medicine” was then born and the use of pure essential oils for medicinal purposes became almost obsolete.
But Gattefossé’s discovery (or, some would say, rediscovery) of lavender’s healing properties encouraged a renewed focus on aromatherapy, and essential oils have continued to see a huge rise in use and popularity ever since. Fortunately, essential oils are gaining popularity again today, and people are discovering that everything from perfumes to body mists and room sprays do not need to have harsh, toxic substances to be effective.
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