Essential Oils

A Handbook for Aromatherapy Practice Second Edition

Jennifer Peace Peace Rhind

• Publisher: Singing Dragon
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9780857010728
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Alternative & Complementary Medicine

Revised and significantly expanded, the new edition of this handbook provides full information on the use of essential oils in the field of contemporary aromatherapy, based on the research evidence behind their therapeutic applications.

The author provides the historical and cultural context for our understanding of aromatherapy, with an overview of its relationships with Greek, Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine. She gives a detailed account of how essential oils are created, how and where aromatherapy is used, the underlying pharmacology, and the current research. The characteristics of over 100 essential oils, absolutes and resinoids are provided in detail, including botanical and chemical information, usage and combinations.

This will be an indispensable text for all students and practitioners of aromatherapy and related disciplines, as well as anyone interested in the use of essential oils for health and well-being.

PART I

Aromatherapy

Philosophical and Theoretical Perspectives

CHAPTER 1

From Historical Origins to the Present Day

The Philosophies of the Pioneers and Influential Thinkers

The exploitation of aromatic plants – from quintessence to essential oils

Aromatherapy could, very broadly, be described as the therapeutic use of the essential oils that are extracted from aromatic plants. Aromatic plant species have had an enormous impact on the life of the planet – from their ecological roles to their cultural uses, for healing and as medicines. These plants contain significant amounts of ‘volatile oil’ – which gives each of them their distinctive fragrances and tastes. Aromatic plants are found all over the temperate, subtropical and tropical regions of the Earth. However, only around 1 per cent of plant species on the planet are aromatic.

Early methods for extracting the fragrance included steeping plants in water, oils or fatty materials. Second- and third-century alchemists searched for ways in which to extract the fragrant quintessence, which they considered to be the ‘soul’ or ‘spirit’ of aromatic plants. In fact, the modern term ‘essential oil’ is derived from the word ‘quintessence’. Later, in the sixteenth century, steam distilled essential oils became available in Europe, eventually becoming part of traditional medicine. Nowadays, essential oils can be extracted by both physical and chemical methods. These range from simple maceration to cold expression suited to citrus peel oils, and sophisticated steam distillation procedures and solvent extraction processes (Schnaubelt 1999). Most essential oils and aromatic extracts are destined for the flavour and fragrance industry. Aromatherapy is only a tiny part of the vast industry that has evolved around man’s exploitation of the sense of smell.

Currently, around 80 per cent of essential oils are extracted by distillation (Williams 2000). Today the essential oil industry is huge, and a wide body of knowledge concerning the physical, chemical and biological nature of essential oils has been accumulated. However, modern uses of aromatic plants remain very similar to those of older cultures.

Throughout the history of mankind, and across all cultures, aromatic plants have been exploited – and they have played significant roles in many aspects of human life.

In ancient times, plant aromatics were used in ritual – as incenses, for purification, behaviour modification, and as meditation aids. They also had many varied culinary uses – herbs and spices were not only included for flavouring but also as preservatives. So as their use in food preparation developed, different cuisines became characterised and defined by their use of herbs and spices. Finally, aromatic plant extracts were widely used as perfumes, environmental fragrances, for personal care, grooming and well-being, and of course, as medicines (Classen, Howes and Synnott 1994). From this it is very apparent that, although technology has changed, and we can now extract, analyse and research essential oils in ways that older cultures could not even conceive of, we are still using plant aromatics in very similar ways. So although aromatherapy is a comparatively new discipline, it has ancient roots and an extensive, global tradition behind it. This must be acknowledged, and to put contemporary aromatherapy in its true context, its origins and recent evolution should be explored.

The cultural uses of plant aromatics in ancient and modern times

Aromatherapy is shamanism for everyone. (Schnaubelt 1999, p. vii)

Aromatherapy means different things to different people. Popular conceptions vary, despite the best efforts of professional organisations to promote it as a therapeutic modality. Some associate it with an aromatic massage, while many in spas and the beauty industry consider it to be a relaxing or rejuvenating aesthetic treatment. Many understand that it involves the use of fragrant plant extracts – yet to some this simply means the use of naturally perfumed personal care products. Some aromatherapists will insist that aromatherapy is a therapeutic discipline based on the belief that odour affects the state of mind. Many aromatherapists who are attracted to a biomedical approach might view aromatherapy as a branch of herbal medicine, or as aromatic medicine in its own right. A growing number of therapists are exploring the energetic aspects of essential oils, and using ancient philosophical traditions to provide a new context for their practices.

A look at aromatherapy’s historical roots and evolution will help to explain these anomalies. Aromatherapy’s origins are inseparable from those of perfumery, as aromatic plants were used in both religious ceremonies and for personal use and adornment, long before recorded history. So this is a fitting place to start, before continuing to look at the development of modern aromatherapy from its inception in France in the 1930s.

The use of fragrance certainly dates from pre-Egyptian times, preceding 5000 BC. Since antiquity, scented flowers have been used for personal adornment. This long history of use is possibly grounded in the concept that the sense of smell is a form of communication in all species.

Other very early uses of plant aromatics were as incenses – sandalwood, cinnamon bark, calamus root, and resins such as myrrh, frankincense and benzoin were burned to release fragrant smoke and vapours. These aromatic incenses were used in religious ritual and ceremony. The root of the word ‘perfume’ is per fumum, the Latin expression meaning ‘through smoke’; incense provided a link between the mundane and the divine. At an early stage it would have been recognised that different fragrances would elicit different effects on moods, feelings and states of mind during ritual practices. From this a tradition of using specific aromatics or combinations for specific purposes would have gradually developed.

In 1975 Paolo Rovesti (1902–1983), a chemist and pharmacist who became known as the ‘father of phytocosmetics’, discovered a terracotta distillation apparatus in the Indus valley, West Pakistan, which dates from around 3000 BC. Therefore we do know that the process of distillation was known as early as 3000 BC, and that the art and science of perfumery were well developed in ancient and Dynastic Egypt. A considerable array of aromatic products was available and was used for many purposes other than perfumery, including embalming the dead. It is acknowledged that not only the ancient Egyptians, but also the Assyrians, Babylonians, Chaldeans, Hebrews, Persians and Greeks used plant aromatics extensively as perfumes, incenses and medicines.

In the East, in China, perfumery and aromatic practices were evolving along similar lines. The Chinese also exploited animal-derived aromatics, including musk – a secretion of the small musk deer. They made extensive use of musk both as a medicine and as a perfume ingredient.

In India and Persia, the attars were, and are, the main forms of perfume for skin application. The term ‘attar’ has various meanings, including smoke, wind, odour and essence. Champaca flowers, jasmine and rose, and sandalwood, regarded as a holy fragrance, were common ingredients in attars. Vedic literature (c. 2000 BC) mentions hundreds of aromatics; the Rig Veda describes their uses in personal care and healing.

Around the same time, in Central America, the Incas, Aztecs and Maya also were using vast quantities of incense as religious offerings. The aromatics used in these cultures are perhaps less familiar to us, but reflected what was available in the environment, such as copal resin, copal wood and tobacco leaf. The remaining Maya in Guatemala continue to burn these incenses in support of prayers.

Perfumery in Japan developed with the practice of Buddhism. Incense was burned – in early days this was aloes wood, a rare and now costly aromatic. Later on, sandalwood, costus root, cinnamon bark, musk, ambergris, styrax and frankincense became part of the aromatic palette, and the personal use of fragrances in the form of powders, pastes and essences became popular.

The perfumers of Ancient Greece were highly skilled, learning from and basing their art on the work of Egyptian perfumers. Orris (iris root), rose, tuberose, violet, spices, herbs, woods and resins were extensively used in early Greek perfumes. Cosmetics were widely used by men and women too; a practice first popularised by the Egyptian Queen Nefertiti.

In Ancient Rome, perfumery was based on Greek practice, and further developed. Roman perfumers were afforded great respect, and even entire quarters of towns were populated by perfumery practices. By the time of Nero, aromatics were used extensively and extravagantly. Creativity, innovation and also an element of excess characterised Roman perfumery, and the strong links between scent and eroticism were also exploited. The Romans used many of the aromatic plants whose essential oils play an important role in current aromatherapy practice, including rosemary, sage, peppermint, aniseed, pepper and the more exotic floral oils of neroli, rose and jasmine. Herodotus was the first to write about the process of distilling turpentine from pine resin, and many other matters pertaining to the use of perfumes. After the fall of the Roman Empire the use of perfumes declined.

Islamic culture has a crucial role in the evolution of perfumery and aromatherapy. Circa 600 AD the Muslims were scholars and travellers, assimilating the knowledge of all the cultures they encountered. The eighth-century Persian pharmacist Jabir ibn Hayyan (the westernised name given was Geber) developed distillation processes for the production of aromatic waters, and by the thirteenth century these aromatic waters were widely used as medicines and perfumes. Ironically, the tiny droplets of an oily substance that floated on the surface of the distillation waters were regarded as impurities, and routinely discarded. This was, in fact, the essential oil. In the tenth century the Persian physician Ibn Cina (Avicenna) made wide use of distillation and indeed was initially credited as the first to do this. He certainly does appear to have invented steam distillation specifically for the preparation of rosewater and other scented floral waters.

Meanwhile, developments in Europe were taking place that also had an impact on the growth of the essential oil industry. Around 1150 AD the condenser was developed. As its name suggests, the purpose of the condenser was to condense the hot vapours of distillation, making the entire process more efficient, and the subsequent realisation of the nature and value of essential oils was the consequence.

Italy was the first European country to make perfumes with these essential oils, closely followed by Spain and Portugal. The perfume industry grew as new aromatic materials were introduced from newly discovered America. France had a perfumery industry by the thirteenth century. The area in the south, around Grasse, became renowned for the cultivation and extraction of flowers such as rose, tuberose, jasmine, mimosa and jonquil. Other areas of cultivation of aromatic plants became well established, notably Sicily for its citrus oils, Calabria for bergamot and southern Spain for citrus crops and herbs such as sage, rosemary and thyme.

Perfumery arrived in the British Isles with the Romans. However, the practice was slow to develop, and did not become popular until the time of Queen Elizabeth I, when fragrance became available in the forms of pomanders and incense; rosewater, too, became more widely available. Pharmaceutical che...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Part I  Aromatherapy: Philosophical and Theoretical Perspectives
• Part II  Approaches to Creating Essential Oil Synergy
• Part III  The Essential Oils, Absolutes and Resinoids of Aromatherapy
• Glossary
• Appendix A  Significant Chemical Constituents in Essential oils
• Appendix B  Essential oil Constituents: Odour and Therapeutic Potential
• Appendix C  Prescribing Essential oils Using the Molecular Approach
• Appendix D  Carrier oils Used in Aromatherapy
• Appendix E  Essential oils, Absolutes and Resinoids in Aromatherapy: Indications and Actions
• References
• Reading