FROM
ANCIENT TIMES
References Robert B. Tisserand © The art of
Aromatherapy.
Our distant
ancestors, ten thousands years ago, must have known how
and what to eat before they even knew how to make fire
and cook food. Even in those early times they may have
known simply from experience that some plants were
poisonous, some would induce vomiting or diarrhoea, and
other aided digestion. They almost certainly used their
nose, as well as their eyes, to determine whether a plant
was the one they were seeking, or whether it was suitable
to eat.
It is impossible to point to a
date when plants were first used medically. In the course
of thousands of years the healing virtues of plants must
have gradually been discovered. When Man learned how to
make fire he must have sometimes burned aromatic plants,
finding that some were good to eat with cooked food,and
that others made a pleasant smell.
Through burning aromatic plants they would have
discovered other properties; sometimes the smoke would be
good to breathe, sometimes it would make one feel drowsy
or invigorated.
Smoking a patient is one of
the earliest recorded forms of treatment with herbs. It
was often used to drive out evil spirits.
These plants also came to be used for other reasons,
perhaps beeing burnt as offerings to the sun of Mother
earth, or on the birth of a child or the death of an
enemy.
Noticing the effects of herbal infusions and decoctions
on the body, and the effects of herb smoke on the mind,
early man naturally attributed some power to them. As
offerings, then,they had a real significance, and were
associated with the earliest forms of ritual and magic.
Even today, in some parts of the world, herbs are only
picked when the moon and stars are in a certain position,
and a particular chant is recited as the plant is being
gathered, sometimes a different chant beeing required for
each herb.
The senses of our distant ancestors were probably more
acute than ours. Civilization may bring refinement in
some senses, but it can not increase the acuity of our
basic instincts and the perception of our senses. We do
not use our nose to smell the direction of the wind, the
where abouts of an enemy, or the tracks of an animal,
although there are a few tribes in South America, who can
track by smell. Smelling fine perfumes may increase our
appreciation of sophisticated scents, but we have lost
the ability to smell an enemy, a poisonous herb, or a
particular disease. The sense of smell is very closely
linked to proverbial ”sixth sense”. During the neolithic period of
the Eastern world, between 6000 and 9000 years ago, Man
discovered that plants such as olive, castor and sesame
contained fatty oil, which could be extracted by
pressing. The flax plant, which was also used to make
clothes, yielded linsees oil. If, at this period man
could bake bread and use herbs in cooking and in
medicine, it is quite plausible to suppose, that he could
make scented oils. He undoubtedly used fatty oils to rub
on his body and his hair.
Finding that these oils went racid after a time and began
to smell bad, it is possible, that he began to scent them
with aromatic herbs commonly used in the kitchen, on the
fire, and in medicines. If such scented oils were made by
neolithic man, he may then have found that they had
similar effects to the herbs, when the body was massaged
with them.
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A number of vessels,
mostly made of alabaster and dating between 3000
and 2000 BC, can be seen in the Egyptian rooms of
the British Museum. Some of them look uncommenly
like ointmentpots, and others, more vertically
orientated, were probably made for scented oils.
For the period in which they were living the
Egyptian people were incredibly advanced; so much
so, infact, that the pyramids they built still
present us with a number of unsolved questions,
which the most scientific mind cannot unravel.
How where the pyramids built ? How were such
enormous stones made to fit so perfectly
together, to form an enormous perfect shape
containing hundreds of yards of tunnels and tombs
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No satisfactory answer has yet
been given. Perhaps we have found a clue to the reason
for their shape, in the fact that it preserves corpses,
whether they are embalmed or not. But if this is the
reason, how did the Egyptians come to discover it ?
If we look at their buildings, their carvings, their
culture and their art, we see a nation at a very height
of civilization. This is the same period in which one of
the oldest books in the world is supposed to have been
written. The Yellow Emperor`s Classic of Internal
Medicine, a Chinese text, was written by Huang Ti, the
Yellow Emperor or Yellow Lord. This ancient author also
knew things, that we are only now beginning to
understand. His book deals mainly with the causes and
treatment of disease, and is the most important text for
all acupuncturists, even the Chinese.
While the Chinese were
developing acupuncture, the Egyptians were, among other
things, aquiring a knowledge of essences.
The twelfth dynasty was the golden age of Egyptian
jewellery; during this time cosmetics were also widely
used. These consisted mainly of kohl (an early equivalent
to our mascara) eyeshadow, which was usually green, and
various unguents and ointments to beautify the
complexion. They used red ochre to colour the lips and
cheeks, and henna to stain the hands and fingernails a
deep orange/yellow. White lead was also used to whiten
the face, but being highly poisonous, it was probably not
much used. Some very beautiful cosmetic boxes have been
recovered, dating from the twelfth dynasty (c.2000 BC).
These ornate boxes contain small pots and jars made of
stone, which would have contained some of the cosmetics
mentioned above,included scented unguents.
When the tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amon was opened in 1922,a
number of such vases and scent pots were discovered,some
containing unguents.These had been placed in the
tomb,when it was sealed in 1350 BC, - over 3000 years
ago.The pots were made of calcite,and the contents,which
had solidified,later revealed the presence of
frankincense and something resembling Indian
spikenard.These were mixed in a base of animal fat,which
formed 90% of the blend.The scent,though understandably
faint,was still detectable.
At first these unguents were probably highly
valued,and only used by royal families and perhaps the
high priests.Later on they would become less sacred,and
wider used by ordinary people.They would be used in
cosmetics,massage-oils,medicines and so on.There are
papyri recording the medicinal use of herbs,dating back
to the reign of Khufu,who built the Great Pyramid 2800
BC.All these records show,that magic was considered being
just as effective as medicine.In order for a remedy to
have its full effect,it was costumary for the physician
to recite a magic formula four times.This kind of
recitation was common in many other civilizations,and is
still used by herbalists or witch doctors in part of
Africa.
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