History of Essential Oils
7000 BC to 4000 BC
Anthropologists find evidence of fragrant plants being combined with fatty oils of olive and sesame to create Neolithic ointments.
3000 - 2000 BC
Egyptians records indicate that they are importing large quantities of Myrrh.
The Egyptian God Nefertem is depicted in hieroglyphs as healing through the power of plants and flowers.
An Indus Valley terra-cotta apparatus, dated to 3,000 BC, is believed to be the first known primitive still that may have been used for distilling essential oils from plants. (Discovered by an archeological expedition led by Dr. Paolo Rovesti in 1975.)
1333 -1323 BC
King Tutankhamen ruled Egypt and when his tomb was discovered in November, 1922, (3,000 years later) they found alabaster (calcite) jars sealed in fat and containing resinous materials, including spices and frankincense oils.
100 BC
Rome reportedly consumed 2,800 tons of imported frankincense and 500 tons of myrrh per year. Romans referred to their sweethearts as "My myrrh" and "my cinnamon."
50 BC
1st century AD Roman historian, Pliny -- author of the 1st century AD Natural History, mentions 32 remedies prepared from rose oil, 21 from lily, 17 from violet, and 25 from pennyroyal. A spikenard ointment was suggested for coughs and laryngitis.
The New Testament is filled with hundreds of references to oil, including frankincense and myrrh brought to the Christ child.
The Greek work Christos, Christ, means "anointed."
Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord -- James 5:14
1601 AD - 1625 AD
King James I, who authorized the translation of the King James version of the Bible (KJV), reigned during the time of the great plague, known as the Black Death. Learning that robbers were stripping the dead of their jewelry and belongings, without becoming ill themselves, King James had the robbers arrested and offered to spare their lives if they would divulge the secret of how they avoided contracting the plague. The robbers were perfumers and spice traders by profession, and they told the King they had used essential oils of clove, cinnamon, lemon, eucalyptus, and rosemary rubbed all over their bodies and put on masks for breathing.
1910-1940
In July, 1910, Dr. Rene Maurice Gattefosse, a French chemist, rediscovered the therapeutic value of essential oils in his family's perfumery business laboratory when he burned his arm quite severely and stuck his arm in a vat of lavender essential oil thinking it was water. Gattefosse reported that he applied the essential oil of lavender frequently to his "gangrenous burn" causing the pain to cease, and the burn healed without leaving any scar. This experience led him into a lifetime of research into the therapeutic benefits of essential oils.
Gattefosse coined the term "Aromatherapie" in the 1920's, and published his 2 main works on the therapeutic value of Aromatherapy in 1937. Gattefosse's Aromatherapie, 1937, was translated into English in 1992 and cites more than 200 relevant scientific works completed between 1680 and 1933.
Gattefosse also shared his studies with Jean Valnet, a medical doctor practicing in Paris.
1940-1970
Dr. Jean Valnet (MD) joined the French Army in World War II. When he exhausted his supply of antibiotics during the War, Dr. Valnet began using essential oils on patients suffering battlefield injuries. To his surprise, they exerted a powerful effect in combating and counteracting infection. He was able to save the lives of many soldiers who might otherwise have died.
Dr. Jean Valnet published "The Practice of Aromatherapy" in 1964. His work was expanded by two of his students: Dr. Paul Belaiche and Dr. Jean Claude Lapraz. Together, they discovered that essential oils contain antiviral, antibacterial, anti-fungal, and antiseptic properties, and found that they served to carry oxygen into the body's cells.
Valnet found that he was able to cure long-term psychiatric patients by administering essential oils with almost immediate results.
In 1969, M. Girault used the aromatogram technique to develop effective essential oil treatments for the specific flora of each patient.
1973
Wagner and Sprinkmeyer demonstrated an essential oil mix to have broader activity than broad-spectrum antibiotics.
1974
Deininger provided clinical proof in double-blind studies on the effectiveness of essential oils for autonomic nervous system imbalances.
Used today in many hospitals
Some hospitals, hospices, and nursing homes are using essential oils to deodorize their facilities, calm their patients, reduce cross infections, reduce the use of psychotropic drugs, increase appetite, increase the will to live, and increase patient reports of overall wellbeing. The following are just a few examples.
Alegent Health Bergan Mercy Medical Center, Omaha, NE
Aurora Healthcare System, Foxpoint, WI
Banner Health, Mesa, AZ
Beth Israel Complementary Care Center, New York, NY
Children's Healthcare, Roseville, MN
Elk Regional Health Hospital, PA
Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, AK
Florida Hospital Medical Center, Orlando, FL
Goshen General Hospital, Chardon, OH
Ingham Regional Medical Center, Lansing, MI
Kingston Hospital, Kingston, NY
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Oakland, CA
Manilaq Hospital, Kotzebue, AK
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
Mercy Holistic Health, Cincinnati, OH
Pinnacle Health, Harrisburg, PA
St. Barnabas Healthcare System, Toms River, NJ
St. Croix Valley Memorial, WI
St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, Hartford, CT
St. John's Riverside Medical Center, Yonkers, NY
St. Luke's Medical Center, New Bedford, MA
Sentara Healthcare, Wilmington, DE
The Valley Hospital, Ridgewood, NJ
University of Michigan Hospital, MI
UCLA Health System, CA
Wishard Memorial Hospital, Indianapolis, IN
In Worchester Hospital in Hereford, England they did a six-month study in which they discovered that vaporizing lavender caused their patients to have more natural sleep patterns and made them less aggressive. Many patients were able to be weaned off tranquilizers altogether.
In Minneapolis, essential oils are used to reduce the wandering of elderly patients.
In Missouri, hospitals are using essential oils to prevent and eliminate mold from offices, surgeries, and intensive care units.
At Churchill Hospital in Oxford, England, many of the Alzheimers patents treated with essential oils have become more alert. Patients with dementia have become calmer.
St. Croix Valley Memorial Hospital in Wisconsin uses essential oils throughout the lobby, at the nurses' stations, and the emergency waiting room. Anxiety relieving essential oils are used.
At Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, they tested the anxiety level of patients going through MRI. Forty-two patients breathed normal air, and thirty-eight breathed air with essential oils; 63% of those exposed to the aromatic oils experienced reduced anxiety levels.
At St. John's and St. Elizabeth's Hospital in London, most of the midwives have become trained aromatherapists. They use essential oils from the beginning of pregnancy through the aftercare.
At Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, England, thirty-six patients in the intensive-care and coronary-care units were tested to determine whether there was any benefit to using essential oils combined with massage. The control group received nothing, a second group received massage without essential oils, and a third group received aromatherapy massage. The patients' progress was followed over a five week period. Systolic blood pressure (the first number of a blood-pressure reading) dropped 50% for those who received aromatherapy with massage, 40% with massage alone, and 16% for the control group. Respiratory rates decreased by 75% for the aromatherapy group, 41% for massage alone, and 16% in the control group. Heart rate decreased by 91% for the aromatherapy group, 58% for those receiving massage alone, and 41% for the control group.
In Jersey City, New Jersey, two elder-care facilities diffused essential oils for 15-30 minutes twice a day in the lounge and in the common rooms and records indicated that the use of psychotropic drugs was reduced by nearly 50% over a three-month period.
"Lavender, thyme and tea-tree oils have been used for centuries as antiseptics; their chemical compounds appear to kill microbes on contact."
(Andrew Weil, M.D., 1996)
"Dr. Taylor of the University of Austin, Texas has observed that essential oils present more new compounds than the chemists of the whole world could analyze in a thousand years. We now know that they are mixtures of many powerful and therapeutic chemical constituents. "
(Valnet, 1980)
What is understood is this: Because of their unique chemical structure, essential oils are able to penetrate the cell membrane of human cells, just as they do the cells of plants, carrying vital nutrients inside. Once inside the cell, "Essential oils promote natural healing by stimulating and reinforcing the body's own mechanisms. Essences of chamomile and thyme, for instance, are credited with the ability to stimulate the production of white blood cells which help in our fight against disease."
(Wildwood, 1991)
"Essential oils include muscle relaxants digestive tonics, circulatory stimulants and hormone precursors. Many repair injured cells; others carry away metabolic waste. In addition, a number of essential oils enhance immunity, working with the body to heal itself. They're capable of stimulating the production of phagocytes (white blood cells that attack invaders). And some are antitoxic. Many essential oils have been proven effective against fungi and yeast, parasites and viruses. Others fight infection with amazing effectiveness, killing bacteria by disrupting their life cycle. And unlike conventional antibiotic drugs, essential oils are "probiotic": they kill pathogenic bacteria, but tend to leave beneficial bacteria intact. Finally, bacteria typically do not acquire resistance to essential oils, as they so often due to antibiotic drugs. "
(Keville and Green, 1995)
"What do the oils do? First of all they are transporters; they transport products to the cells of our body. Secondly, they contain ATP, which serves as the power source of the cells--the fuel. Essential oils normalize the viscosity of the blood, and facilitate the delivery of vital nutrients. Some oils are anti-spasmodic and help relieve migraine headaches and mental fatigue. Others reduce the pain and swelling of arthritis, release liver toxins, clean the gall bladder, clear up acne and stimulate the secretion of gastric juices, while even others work to improve nerve impulses and synaptic connections, and heal burns, cuts and infected wounds. Some oils reverse insomnia and anxiety, lower cholesterol, relieve PMS symptoms, stimulate the immune functions and destroy [microbes] among many other important functions. "
(Friedmann, 1995)
Dr. Valnet asserts that the essential oil from thyme destroys the anthrax bacillus, the typhoid bacillus, the glanders bacillus, staphylococcus, the diptheria bacillus, and meningococcus. He further states, "The essence of lemon is second to none in its antiseptic and anti bacterial properties."
Andrew Weil, M.D., noted advocate of natural therapies writes: "Certain aldehydes in lemon balm, for instance, have been shown to reduce inflammation, while certain ketones in rosemary and eucalyptus appear to reduce mucus production. Essential oils appear to affect the emotions as well: In one recent study done in a British nursing home, vaporized lavender oil was found to work as well as pharmaceutical sedatives in helping residents relax into sleep."
(Weil, 1996)
In tests conducted in France by Professor Griffin, director of the French Police Toxicology Laboratory, the antiseptic effect of a blend of essential oils--including pine, thyme, peppermint, lavender, rosemary, cloves and cinnamon--was studied in order to test the ability of the oils to purify the air of harmful disease causing bacteria. First, Professor Griffin set up a number of Petri dishes approximately 15 centimeters from ground level in an open room, allowing them to stand for 24 hours, germs from the air being collected naturally as they settled into the open to dishes. After 24 hours he analyzed the dishes, finding them to contain 210 colonies of various microbes, including numerous molds and staphylococci. He then sprayed the mixture of essential oils in the form of an aerosol into the air in the room. After only 15 minutes, only 14 colonies of microorganisms out of the original 210 were left alive. After 30 minutes, only four colonies of the regional 210 were left. Importantly, all the potentially harmful disease causing molds and staphylococci had been killed in the first 30 minutes.
(Valnet, 1980)
In another French experiment, the number of pathogenic microorganisms in various locations were measured. In a forest, there were found to be five pathogenic microorganisms in the air for every cubic meter. In an average apartment, there were found to be twenty thousand microbes in the air per cubic meter. In public stores, there were found to be nine million microbes in the air per cubic meter. On the top of a worktable there were found to be five million microbes per square meter. On a carpet, 9 million. And in the air of a large hospital there were found to be on average ten thousand microbes per cubic meter. According to Dr. Valnet, when an inquisitive doctor put some of the microbe laden air from the hospital into a flask containing just a few drops of essential oils, 40 percent of the microbes were destroyed in only 20 minutes, 80 percent in an hour, and 100 percent in nine hours!
Dr. Valnet concluded, "Clearly, the administering of essential oils by fine aerosol spray should be common practice in sick rooms, operating rooms and clinics."
Andrew Weil reports on confirmation of the French medical orientation to aromatherapy, or the therapeutic use of essential oils: "Research worldwide is now validating the French acceptance of aromatherapy as a medical modality." As examples he cites a German double blind, controlled study finding peppermint oil reducing headaches; two controlled British studies showing peppermint oil more effective than placebo for irritable bowel syndrome; and ongoing studies in the United Kingdom researching the possible promise of limonene, in lemon oil, in the treatment of advanced cancer.
(Weil, 1996)
