The myths reviewed - LEMON.

[Guest guest]

Mr Watt,

Thank you so much for the information and the time you take from your

busy day to give it to us. I, for one, value any information you can give me any

EO or herb you choose to address. Your friend and His, Deonia

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

A review of common aromatherapy errors which new people might find

of interest. This review is intended to help people understand why

so many urban myths have grown in this trade, and perhaps where that

information may have originated.

 

LEMON OIL:

 

You will find it quoted in the majority of aromatherapy books, on

websites and in course notes that Lemon oil is " astringent " .

 

So lets try and find out where this information comes from.

 

I have several old pharmacopoeias and herbals dating back to Ancient

Greece. In not one is lemon OIL suggested as an astringent.

 

The excellent book by Gattefosse first published in 1937 makes no

mention of lemon oil as an astringent.

 

I do not now have the book by Marguerite Maury - credited as the first

AT book - because someone never returned it to me. However, I do

recall much of its contents were beauty therapy orientated rather

than being factual information on essential oils. Maury was an ex

beautician and so carried over into her work hype from that trade.

 

The earliest aromatherapy book I can find making this claim is 'The

Practice of Aromatherapy' by Jean Valnet published in 1980. What

most subsequent aromatherapy authors failed to realise - when they

copied his work - was his book is largely a herbal, rather than a

sound book on essential oils. With the Properties and Therapeutic

uses lists he failed to define if he meant the use of the herb or the

use of the oil.

 

The next book making therapeutic claims for " lemon " is Aromatherapy A-

Z by Patricia Davies 1988. She makes numerous claims about

what " lemon " can do but fails to define if she means lemon juice

or lemon oil. As a herbalist I know most of those attributes are for

the juice NOT the oil. She also gives no references on the source of

her information other than Valnet above. She says that " lemon " is an

astringent and leaves it up to the reader to guess what she means.

 

The next book I looked at is 'The Encyclopaedia of Essential oils' by

J. Lawless first published 1992 in which she does say lemon oil is

astringent, plus a heap of other unreferenced medicinal claims mainly

based on the juice NOT the oil.

 

'Aromatherapy' by Daniel Ryman first published in 1991 (one of only a

couple of early aromatherapy authors I have any respect for). She

goes to great pains to differentiate between the use of lemon juice

and lemon oil. I can immediately spot copies and corruptions of her

work in many of the subsequent aromatherapy books.

 

'The Aromatherapy book' by Jeanne Rose published in 1992 quotes Valnet

as saying " lemon " is " astringent " and gives a whole string of uses

that are based on the juice NOT the oil.

 

At the risk of boring you, I am not going to mention the plethora of

subsequent 'novels' as I call them. Almost all of them are copied

from the early aromatherapy books and they just tweaked the

information here and there. I know of two such authors who privately

admitted that their books were based around the courses they

attended. Courses where the teachers based their information on the

books already mentioned above. That includes one of the more recent

books now used as a basis of courses around the world.

 

The unfortunate aspect is that Joe public and therapists read these

books and simply assume the authors knew what they were writing about.

They did not, and when I point this out, I am the one that comes under

attack. People do not like having their icons lack of real knowledge

exposed to scrutiny.

 

Martin Watt

http://www.aromamedical.com