Rene Gattefose

Gattefosse's Aromatherapy: The First Book on Aromatherapy

Rene-Maurice Gattefosse coined the word 'Aromatherapy'. As a chemist, his interest in Aromatherapy began after an explosion in his laboratory. He burned his arm and accidentally plunged it into a bottle of lavender essential oil he had extracted for testing. He found his wounds healed in a very short period of time leaving no scar behind. This 'accidental' discovery in modern times of the healing properties of essential oils lead to a life time of further study culminating in this book in 1936.

Unfortunately it is rare to find aromatherapy books whose claims are substantiated by scientific study and stand alone - outside the realm of modern natural medicine. The works of Gattefosse have provided the foundation that Aromatherapists since that time have worked from.

This book is a great introduction for skeptics to begin to remove some of their concerns that Aromatherapy is all in the minds of authors. It is also great for students of Aromatherapy to further ground their knowledge base.

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