History

As there are some 50 or more books on aromatherapy, with more being published regularly, the most concise and complete history concerning this topic is found in the introduction to the layman's "bible" for aromatherapy, Aromatherapy An A - Z, by Patricia Davis. (Most of the "aromatherapy authors" have emulated or copied Davis' A - Z format, and have only added pictures of the plants and/or oils. The pictures are nice, however, as a practical matter, someone who is using essential oils, will probably never distill plants for therapeutic uses. There are specific areas of the world which produce plants which are of the best quality for aromatherapy.)

In the United States, when the Office of Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health received limited funding from Congress in the early 1990's, there was a recognition that essential oils and aromatherapy may have some validity as a healing modality. Today, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) recognizes a number of essential oils to be effective for the claims made on their behalf.