The house of Gattefossé was one of several perfume and cosmetic companies that grew up around Grasse in France. René-Maurice was a chemist whose researches were drawn from cosmetic to therapeutic uses of essential oils by two things; the realisation that many are better antiseptics than the synthetics in use at the time, and applying lavender to his own serious burns which healed quickly and with no scarring. He first used the term 'aromathérapie' in articles he wrote, and for the title of his first book in 1928.
He published a number of scientific papers and several other books, and a great deal of interest was generated. The Second World War, however, intervened and little was published or researched for 15 years.
As a surgeon in the French army, he used essential oils extensively treating battle wounds in the French Indo-China war, and later used them with mentally disturbed patients in psychiatric hospitals. His own 'Aromathérapie' book was published in 1964 (the English translation is entitled The Practice of Aromatherapy).
Contemporary with Valnet, but with a background as a biochemist, Maury did not feel confident about prescribing the use of essences internally. Instead she looked for an external method of application useful both therapeutically and cosmetically. She came up with a therapy based on massage, and undertook thorough studies of the ways that aromatics work physically, mentally and cosmetically. In 1961 she published Le Capital Jeunesse (translation The Secret of Life and Youth). Towards the end of her life, she moved to England and her work is still carried on in London by her assistants.
The first book to be written in English about aromatherapy was Robert Tisserand's The Art of Aromatherapy in 1977. This book, strongly influenced by the work of Valnet and Gattefossé sparked interest in aromatherapy in the USA.
In the UK there are over one hundred different courses in aromatherapy, and an ever-increasing number of qualified practitioners. There are many aromatherapy associations, and in 1991 the Aromatherapy Organisations Council (AOC) was formed as the governing body for the profession in the UK.
