k2 clear paper spray Put simply aromatherapy is the use of essential oils which have been extracted from plants for their therapeutic properties. People commonly believe that aromatherapy is a relatively modern phenomenon as the term 'aromatherapy'; was only coined in the twentieth century, but the roots of aromatherapy go back many centuries.
It is thought that the Chinese were the first civilisation to use aromatic plants for health related reasons, such as burning incense for harmony. However it was the Egyptians who invented the first distillation techniques, thus allowing the extraction of essential oils. Their distillation methods were crude, but allowed them to use the oils of cedarwood, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg and myrrh to embalm their dead. Tombs opened by archaeologists in the early twentieth century revealed traces of herbs and a faint herbal scent.
The Egyptians also used essential oils and infused oils for spiritual, medicinal and cosmetic purposes. They started creating aromatic infusions over 5,000 years ago and many believe they developed the term perfume, originating from the Latin "per fumum", meaning through the smoke.
Aromatic scents were the focus of Greek aromatherapy, used medically, in food preservation, cosmetics, cooking as well as religion. Aromatherapeutic ideas also played a part in the design and layout of towns, with large spaces allocated to the burning of herbs to keep the air germ free. Ancient Egyptian rulers imported exotic scents from countries they had conquered as a symbol of their power, both economically and politically.
The Greeks learnt a lot from the Egyptians. After visiting the Nile Valley in 500 B.C. they set up a medical school on the Island of Cos, of which the most famous graduate was Hippocrates, "the father of medicine". He recommended a daily bath and massage with essential oils for a healthy life.
The Romans really took the use of aromatic scents to a new level. For example spice filled pipes perfumed Nero's guests in his palace, perfumed cups were very popular, and there were fragrant watering spots around the city.
Distillation techniques were furthered in the eleventh century by a Persian physician, Avicenna who invented a coiled pipe allowing more efficient and effective cooling of plant vapour and steam. In the thirteenth century the pharmaceutical industry started encouraging greater distillation of essential oils. This created a sound basis of knowledge regarding the use of essential oils for the Black Death of the fourteenth century, which killed 80 million people across Europe. Aromatic herbs and scented candles were burned to combat the stench and help disinfect the air. It is thought that some perfumers avoided the plague due to their constant contact with the natural aromatics.
Aromatic herbs were similarly used during the Bubonic Plague in the sixteenth century when doctors wore big hats with huge beaks filled with aromatic herbs to disinfect the air. At this stage a concrete link between aromatics and health was established, as perfumed air was recognised as antiseptic as well as pleasant. By 1700, essential oils were being used more in mainstream medicine.
It wasn't until the beginning of the twentieth century that essential oils and aromatics regained their popularity. A French chemist called Renee Maurice Gattefosse studied essential oils for their aromatic use. However, his focus changed to their medicinal properties after an accident at work. He badly burnt his arm and in reflex plunged it into the closest liquid which happened to be lavender essential oil. His arm healed very quickly and did not scar, which prompted his study of the medicinal uses of essential oils. Gattefosse coined the term "aromatherapy"; in 1928, and in 1937 he wrote a book called "Gattefosse's Aromatherapy", which is still in print and widely read.
In the late 1950's Madam Marguerite Maury studied how essential oils could be used to penetrate the skin for health and beauty reasons. She developed massage methods that are still used by aromatherapists today. In her book "The Secret of Life and Youth"; she develops the concept of individual prescription, a blend specific to the individual patient.
During the last century, aromatherapy was restricted to the beauty industry and largely unaccepted in the medical profession. However, it is a combination of Maury's developments and the success of medical aromatherapy in France that has led to the acceptance of aromatherapy in the medical arena in Britain and the United States. Aromatherapy has now split into two key areas; beauty and medical, both of which are equally important and are increasingly being recognised as areas and techniques which complement each other.
Perfume has become an intrinsic part of our daily lives. It is a part of our identity. Think of an ordinary day and all the different smell sensations , the zesty invigorating shower gel, the familiarity of a personal perfume, the fresh-washed smell of just washed clothes, the citrus tang of the dish-wash liquid, the relaxing night massage oil.
The fragrance in each product we use is taken for granted, though behind the scenes the whole industry strives constantly to improve fragrances. People are essentially visually oriented, and dependent on sight and sound to gather information from the surroundings ."Smell" however is an extraordinary sense, closely linked to the limbic system (seat of emotions and the functions of memory), it has the power above all other senses to transport us, in an instant to times past or pervade our psyche to change our mood. The consumer is ahead of the scientist, however, now, more than ever before, the developed world is flooded with products to enhance every aspect of modern living. The consumer is spoilt for choice, but a choice must be made! Fragrance is an important part in the positioning of these products and is a feature that the consumer turns to automatically to underscore the promise. It is much more than a personal perfume. It is mysterious, ethereal, and elusive. Yet it is rooted solidly in the physical world and can therefore be examined scientifically.
The very word perfume is derived from the Latin perfumum, meaning 'by' or'through'smoke, as it was with the use of burning incense that the prayers of the ancients were transported to the heavens for the contemplations of the Gods. The use of fragrances developed within the four great centres of culture in China, India, Egypt and Mesopotamia, and was extended in the elite societies of Greece, Palestine.Rome, Persia and Arabia. The great world religions of Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and Zoroastroism employ fragrance in pursuance of their faiths. Thus, religious and pleasurable pursuits have been the main drives in the phenomenal growth of perfume usage throughout the centuries.
The Christian bible is chock-full of fragrance descriptions. The story of Jesus of Nazareth is populated by fragrant materials, from frankincense and myrrh, his gifts at birth, through to the use of spikenard to wash his feet during life and finally the use of myrrh in the binding sheets of his body after crucifixion. Through trade and cultivation, Palestine became a great source of aromatic wealth. The Greeks further developed the use of fragrances, not only in praise of their gods, but also for purely hedonistic purposes. The sciences of medicine and herbalism developed with Hippocrates and Theophrastus, whilst Alexander the Great, tutored by Aristotle, in the third century BC advanced the use of alchemy. The most used fragrances of the Greeks were rose, saffron, frankincense, myrrh, violets, spikenard, and cinnamon and cedar wood.
Meanwhile, in Rome, Pliny the Elder outlined a primitive method of condensation which collected oil from rosin on a bed of wool , and also made the first tentative experiments in chromatography. Throughout the ages, perfume has provided a pathway to happiness.
The first professional perfumers piled their in Capua, which became a trading centre of the industry. Perfume was used in abundance at the games both as a gift for the gods and as a mask for malodors of a bloodstained and offal-dappled arena. It is estimated that in the first century Romans were consuming nearly 3000 tones of frankincense and over 500 tones of the more expensive myrrh. Roman emperors used perfume to excess, instanced by Nero and his wife Poppeae, who had a kind of 'perfumed plumbing' in their palaces, with false ceilings designed to drop the flower petals onto dinner guests and scented doves which fragranced the air with perfumed wings. When Poppeae died, it was said of Nero that he burned a whole year's supply of incense on her funeral pyre.
Empress Zoë, in the Christian stronghold of Constantinople, had employed court perfumers. From there the practice spread, with Normans strewing flowers and rushes onto the floors of castles and churches to keep the air fragrant and acceptable.
In a perverse day, the Black Death of 1347-1351 and subsequent pandemics were huge catalysts to the growth in usage of aromatic products, which had already shown k2 clear paper spray signs of flourishing from Eastern alchemical practice. To counteract the odor of decay of dead bodies due to plague ,the people carried nosegays and small floral bouquets .Washing with water and enveloping the body in smoke or incense was felt to be an effective defense against Black death, and in addition torch bearers with brands of fragrant herbs walked ahead of important and rich personages.
Guilds of the supply of aroma products began to be formed between the 12 th and 13 th centuries. Related crafts included the London Guild of Pepperers and Spicers, and in 1268 the Glover's Guild was recognized.