A brief history…
The use of herbal medecines goes back to the history of modern man, 60.000 years ago, in the Neandertal era.
It was not until the years 1.000 A.D., that the great philosopher and physician Avicenna invented the cooling retort, an extraordinary discovery, which allowed the distillation. He distilled the first pure essential oil: Rosa Centifolia. He was named the Prince of Physicians and published nearly 100 medical books including the famous Canon of Medicine, which makes references to many essential oils.
Aromatherapy’s revival and popularity only occurred in the early 20th century, thanks to the French chemist René Maurice Gatefossé.
Modern aromatherapy was born. However, despite its undoubted effectiveness, aromatherapy did not receive the praises it deserved from the medical community. This was mainly due to the lobbying of financially more powerful laboratories that produced synthetic chemicals as well as to the improper use of essential oils and lack of understanding of the different varieties. Hence, the success of aromatherapy was only partial at the time.
However, nowadays, aromatherapy is gaining ground in the medical, cosmetic, alimentary and veterinarian fields thanks to senior scientists and researchers from around the world who were determined to prove scientifically the effectiveness of essential oils thru years of basic and applied research.
Big thank you to those doctors (namely, Valnet, Duraffourd, Vaillant, Lapraz, d’Hervincourt, and Belaiche), high standing researchers (namely, P. Franchoomme, Zhiri), and pharmacists (such as Dr. Baudoux), who preserved the reputation of aromatherapy and restored the wealth of essential oils.
