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Brief History Of Aromatherapy
In ancient times, herbs and aromatics were commonplace and much information existed concerning the use of plants.  India might very well be the only place where traditional use of plants for healing and medicinal purposes carried forward into modern times. The Chinese also have a long history in the use of aromatics. About 2500 BC Emperor Huang Ti wrote "The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine". The Egyptians were very skilled in making perfumes and cosmetics containing aromatics. The physicians or healers of the time used them to embalm the dead. When bandages from an embalmed mummy were removed, traces of myrrh and cedar wood were found. While in Egypt the Jews had become accustomed to using incense and perfumes; they took this knowledge with them during the exodus. The Babylonian Empire was the major source of fragrant botanicals in ancient times. The use of aromatics spread to Greece and Rome. The Greeks further improved on the use of aromatics oils and ointments. A Greek physician, Marestheus was one of the first to recognize that aromatic flowers had both stimulating and sedative properties. Many Romans employed Greek physicians. One of them, Galen, was responsible for writing copiously, about the theory of plant medicine, as well as dividing plants into their different medicinal categories. During the Renaissance, the utilization of essential oils expanded with the use of chemistry and distillation. With the advent of the printing press, publications on the subject of popular herbals became possible and a number of texts were printed and became accessible to a broader range of people.
 William Turner in 1568, was the first to publish an herbal book in the English language, he is also known as the "The Father of Botany".
Scientific advances made in the 19th century led to a decline in the use of herbal therapy. Scientists were synthetically reproducing many of the substances in their laboratories. This resulted in a decline in the use of essential oils.
In the early 20th century, there was a rebirth of interest in understanding the value of essential oils. The first person to use the term aromatherapy was the French cosmetic scientist, Rene-Maurice Gattefosse, in the book he published on the subject in 1938. Gattefosse quickly realized that many of the oils were powerful antiseptics. Gattefosse's research into the properties of essential oils evoked a great deal of interest in France and Italy. Essential oils were found to be effective not only in healing the skin and strengthening the immunity, but were also capable of relieving emotional conditions.
It's been documented that during the Second World War, Dr. Jean Valnet used essential oils to treat the wounds of soldiers. In 1964 Dr Valnet plubished "The "Practice of Aromatherapy", and it became a classic for some practitioners. In 1950 Marguerite Maury an Austrian born cosmetologist, came up with a massage technique using essential oils.
Aromatherapy once again is flourishing, and many books have been published on the subject.
Marcel Lavabre, co-founder of the American Aromatherapy Association.
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