Plants have been known to have healing properties since the Dawn of Mankind. In ancient times people considered certain herbs to hold the key to immortality. This is no longer considered to be idiotic because we know that herbal preparations can and do promote cell regeneration! The healing properties of herbs were first recorded when man began to write.

In China, The Yellow Emperor Huang Ti, wrote an ancient treatise on Disease. This was called 'The Yellow Emperors Classic of Internal Medicine'. Herbal medicine was included as part of his treatment.

In Egypt, herbal essences were used for both medicinal and beauty uses!

The first people to use aromatics were the Egyptian priests. In fact, they were probably the first Aromatherapists! They used Frankincense and other oils to embalm their Pharaohs. Many of the oils used at that time are still valuable items in the modern herbal pharmacopoeia.

The Greeks began to systemise the herbal knowledge they had learnt from the Egyptians. Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, is believed to have described the effects of at least 300 plants.

Dicodes of Carystus improved upon this catalogue and wrote what is now considered the first complete Western Herbal.

The Greeks also used aromatics for their medicinal and beautifying properties. A famous Greek perfume 'Megalaion' named after its creator Megallus, was not only used for its scent but also for healing wounds and reducing inflammation.

The Romans, influenced by the Greeks and Egyptians, embraced their knowledge of Herbalism and Aromatherapy. Galen, a Greek physician to the Roman Emperor Marcus Auralius wrote of herbal therapy in his great treatise on Medicine.

The most influential work describing herbs as medicine was by Dicsorides in AD50. His 'De Matarrie Medica' was translated into Persian, Hebrew Anglo-Saxon and may other languages and gave a disciplined account of herbal properties.

The Arabs carried on the knowledge accumulated by the preceding civilisations during the Dark Ages.

Abu Ali al-Husain Ibn Abd Allah Ihn Sina known in the West by the much shorter name Avicanna, wrote many books upon the properties of plants and was credited with inventing 'distillation'.

He used the Rose as part of his first experiments and distilled both aromatic waters and essences.

The Arabs became renowned for their perfumes and medicaments. By now the first European Medical Schools were started and herbalism and Aromatherapy were studied.

Most Monasteries studied herbalism and had their own private herbary and herbal books for reference. They treated the sick who came to their door.

Many herbals were written during this period.

Theophiastus Bombastus, known as Paracelsus - a German born in the 16th century, drew up a science called 'The Doctrine of Signatures'.

It claimed every plant was 'signed' or associated by a spiritual bond to a particular disease, ie Eyebright - whose flowers resemble bright eyes was and still is considered good for the eyes.

In the 16th century - William Turner 'father of British Botany' published his Nieuwe Herbal. As this was written in English instead of Latin, it became very popular with the public and Herbalism became everyman's common interest.

Most households had their own herb gardens and their own favourite recipes for Health and Beauty.

In the 17th century - Nicholas Culpeper combined Astrology with Herbalism and wrote his famous work, The Complete Herbal (1655).

Interest in herbalism began to die at this stage because drugs made of synthetic or man-made substances began to be adopted for medical or beauty purposes. Homeopathy devised by Sammual Hohnemann - a German (1755-1843) was the only exception.

Herbalism and Aromatherapy has, since the World Wars, had a dramatic recovery of interest.

People are once again realising that there is something elusive yet life enhancing about plants. They are part of a vast natural plan. We are rediscovering how natural substances can have certain 'living spiritual' qualities, which can never be superseded by 'dead' synthetic substances.

This does not mean to say that we throw away modern drugs and treatments. What it means is that we have over-used these substances, which so often produce alarming side effects, and have only now begun to realise the powerful benefits that nature has to offer when used wisely.

Gattefosse, a French chemist, was in the early part of this century, very interested in the medicinal qualities of Herbal oils and wrote articles in relation to the treatment of skin cancer, gangrene and osteomalacia as well as burns and chronic wounds.

In 1928 he wrote a book called 'Aromatherapy' and followed it with many scientific papers relating to the therapy of Essential Oils of Plants.

During World War 2 Dr Jean Valnet, another Frenchman inspired by Gattefosse's work, used Essential Oils in treating war wounds and discovered that this was indeed a treatment with enormous potential.

He has written many articles and a book called 'Aromatherapy' in 1964. It is mainly due to him that Aromatherapy is viewed as a therapy in it's own right.