The Incense Trail is an overland trade route that has been written about and well documented from Palestine south along the western edge of Arabia to areas now occupied by the countries of Yemen and Oman. Interestingly, this north-south route was intersected at Petra, Jordan, by an east-west route that connected India and China with Egypt. The lucrative trade that moved in all four directions on these routes moved spices, frankincense, myrrh, spikenard, and other aromatics to the Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Indian and Chinese empires between 1000 B.C. and 100 A.D.

Hippocrates, considered the father of modern medicine, is reported to have advised that "The way to health is to have an aromatic bath and scented massage every day." He reportedly believed strongly in the medicinal benefit of fumigation with aromatics and used fumigation in the city of Athens to combat the plague.

A contemporary of Hippocrates, Theophrastus wrote the first known treatise on the scent, titled "Concerning Odors." He inventoried all the Greek and imported aromatic medicines and wrote of ways they could be used. Commenting on the therapeutic value of natural perfumes, he said: "It is to be expected the perfumes should have medicinal properties in view of the virtues of their spices. The effect of plasters and of what some may call poultices prove these virtues since they disperse tumors and abscesses and produce a distinct effect on the body and its interior parts."

Implicit in this observation is one of the fundamental principles of therapeutic aromatherapy - that Essential Oils applied externally affect the internal organs and tissue.

The Romans used aromatic materials with sheer decadence. They bathed with them several times a day, and massage also played a large part in the culture. Oils were used to scent the hair, body and the bed. The most beautiful oils available were blended by highly skilled perfumers, creating celebrated fragrances that were broken down into three categories: 'ladysmata' (a solid unguent), 'stymmata' (a scented oil) and 'diapasmata' (a powdered perfume).

A prominent Greek physician, the doctor for the Roman army, Pedacious Dioscorides, wrote an impressive reference work on herbal medicine during the first century A.D. Several aromatherapy remedies he discusses are still used today. Quoting him: " Myrrh: "Doth strengthen the teeth and ye gummes", Juniper: is described as "diureticall", Marjoram: is described as "soporific", Cypress: "helps with the flux of the belly (diarrhea) and doth also stanch the bloud."

Today, we have documented that myrrh is helpful with gum infections; marjoram has some sedative properties,and cypress can be useful in alleviating diarrhea.

During the Middle Ages, the use of aromatics was denounced by the Catholic Church, as decadent. This reduced the use of aromatics for therapy. But by the 1600's, books about essential oils grew and became widespread. By the 1800's most of the pharmacopeia of England, Germany and France were referencing and prescribing essential oils for a variety of illnesses. At the same time, large flower-growing districts in the south of France were supplying raw materials for French perfumers.

Tuberculosis was common, and workers processing flowers and herbs in these districts generally remained disease free, including tuberculosis. Believing that Essential Oils in the plants were protecting the workers, the first recorded lab test of the anti-bacterial properties of essential oils was performed in 1887.

In 1910 Rene Maurice Gattefosse, a French cosmetic chemist, had an accident, severely burning his hands and arms in a lab explosion. He extinguished the flames, but as he described it, "both my hands were covered with rapidly developing gas gangrene." He submerged his burns in a large container of lavender oil and reported that "Just one rinse with lavender essence stopped the gasification of the tissue. This treatment was followed by profuse sweating and healing which began the next day".

Gattefosse continued to investigate the medical use of Essential Oils and treated soldiers in military hospitals during World War I with oils. He coined the term "aromatherapie", the treatment of disease and injury using aromatic Essential Oils.

Jean Valnet, a Parisian medical doctor and army surgeon, who was also a colleague of Gattefosse's, began to use Essential Oils with great success as antiseptics treating war wounds during the Indochina war from 1948 - 1959. After the war, he continued using Essential Oils in his practice, publishing in 1964 the comprehensive text Aromatherapie, earning him global recognition.

In the 1980's French MD, Daniel Penoel along with French biochemist Pierre Franchomme, investigated and cataloged the medical properties of over 270 Essential Oils, recommending uses for a clinical environment. The book, published in French in 1990, L'aromatherapie exactement, quickly became the primary resource for dozens of secondary authors writing of the medical benefits of Essential Oils. In England, it is common for doctors to prescribe Essential Oils, distributed through pharmacies. Essential Oils have not only stood the test of time, they have proven their efficacy and effectiveness on every level.