Believe it or not, as the century draws to a close, the first thing that I shall do is to heave a huge sigh of relief! Despite what many might think, running your own business is not all beer and skittles and, although I say it myself, to have survived comparatively unchanged (i.e. we are still essentially only supplying essential oils to professionals and students) for almost fifteen years gives me genuine pleasure.  Obviously I could not have done it without the tremendous support of you, my family, staff, and peers. I thank you one and all.

However as my old friend Bernie Hephrun looks back over the past decade of UK Aromatherapy, in the latest edition of Aromatherapy Times, it is difficult not to empathize with his obvious frustration.  In the early 1980s several, who still survive, set out with a spring in their step and passion in their souls to build the framework of UK Aromatherapy for future generations.  Have they succeeded?  I think that they have achieved far more than many ever dreamed of but, despite this, UK Aromatherapy still does not seem at peace with itself. True it does appear that we are under threat of legislation from every direction, which can be disquieting, but it does not necessarily have to be a bad thing? As a former lawyer I can understand that we do require some sort of regulation, but it need be neither oppressive nor restrictive of practice. Legislators can be, and must be, made to listen and flex BUT we must lobby hard, dally little, and speak as one!

Whilst he too often casts himself in the role of Cassandra, Bernie’s warning....that any movement which expects to gain either credence or effect must encompass all strands of opinion and should have a collective voice.  Otherwise the drift towards restrictions will continue....should be heeded.  Fortunately I think that it may have been, if the smiling faces of Gabriel Mojay (RQA), Ian Smith (ISPA) and Doreen Bennetts (IFA) are anything to go by, at the recent joint meeting of their respective Councils when they agreed to adopt the common title International Federation of Aromatherapists. Certainly they seem to have the will to work together for the future; hopefully they will find the way. Of course the final decision will lie with their respective members, but I would remind all of the final line of my old school song....If each but lend himself to establish all. We would never have survived had not all pulled together.

Like so many others, we started at the kitchen table.  An antediluvian answering machine served as our only point of customer contact whilst we busied about our daily lives. Unable to type quickly, I found it easier to handwrite the invoices and Jan, being at work all day, bottled and packaged through the night. If we ran out of stock, Bernie Hephrun would help out.  Len and Shirley Price and Robert and Maggie Tisserand would buy Tea Tree from us, and we bits and bobs from them.  Tricia Davis would give me a severe wigging if my advertisement was late for AQ, but would always move her deadline, and Clive Bendon would endeavour to teach me the rudiments of GC analysis. If the Aromatherapy Trade ever had a problem, we would all meet at some Motorway service station to thrash it out over a cup of tea and a rock cake.  They were happy days and somehow nothing seemed too much trouble, or beyond us. Fifteen years on many now have their own agendas, sometimes with little regard for the common good.  Hopefully the new “guard” will get us back on track. Il n’y a que le premier pas qui coûte!
Recent Events.
The current edition of Natural Products News reports that plant extract supplier the Herbal Apothecary, aromatherapy company Lothian Herbs, and manufacturer/training college Shirley Price Aromatherapy, have all been acquired by Phyto Medical, a holding company set up 18 months ago by Chris Szymanski. Szymanski believes that many companies are not reaching their full market potential despite producing credible products, and hopes to achieve this under the Phyto Medical banner.  As NPN went to press, talks were continuing about two further acquisitions. I understand that one or two other well-known aromatherapy companies have gone the same way under other banners.  Maybe Bernie and I ought to get together and audition for a role in a Jurassic Park re-make: he can be the front legs and I shall be the back!

Certainly “retirement” seems to be suiting Shirley and Len Price: Jan bumped into them in Toronto, at the recent Canadian International Congress of Aromatherapy, and reports that they are in rude health. Jeanne Rose, also, was as effervescent as ever.  Must be something to do with the oils!

We have taken the unprecedented step of appointing our first overseas distributor: Maggie Mann of Plant Life in Toronto.  We have known Maggie for many years and she is truly dedicated to the aromatherapy cause. At present she is only handling for us in Ontario. We have always been quite strong across Canada: I don’t really know why except that half my family seems to live there!  Good Scots, they emigrated in the 1800s but all return to Edinburgh for their final training.  The last one, Stephanie, not only qualified as a therapist but also coached ice hockey whilst she was there. A useful mix of skills, I would have thought, judging from how ice hockey players seem to crash continuously into one another!
 Jan travelled back with John and Gillian Kerr, who had been promoting Aromatherapy Today in Toronto.  Meeting them off the “red-eye” at 0620 did little for my constitution, and even less for my dogs Beaky and Mungu who have yet to come to terms with the return to GMT. Strange: I would have thought that animals would adapt more quickly.  Even Birdie  seems slightly sluggish on these dark mornings. Still I was delighted to see John wheeling through boxes of back copies of AT for our Open Day with John & Sal, as we had already sold out of our stock!

However I was a little perturbed not to see Sal Battaglia with them, as I had expected.  No worries!  Sal arrived a couple of days later, direct from Australia.  We had never met before. What a charming and knowledgeable chap.  I really like him.  He eats, sleeps and drinks holism. If the future is in the hands of people like him - a bit like a ‘down under’ Gabriel Mojay - I shall be happy.  Interestingly they both have a very high regard for Peter Holmes in the United States. Now that trio really would be an international energetics dream team!

Fortunately Sunday, 7th November, dawned bright and clear, if a little chilly. Conscious that parking would be at a premium, we set off early for the venue at St. Anne’s College, Oxford, Justin’s old alma mater. No sooner had we arrived than the first delegates began to drift in. Unlike here, where we can put the kettle on immediately, we had to wait a while for the arrival of a reviving cup of coffee or tea.  My apologies! Also, I beg forgiveness for the vagaries of Oxford’s Sunday Park & Ride policy.  We were assured, not once but several times, that every pick-up point would be operational. No wonder several requested that the venue revert to here again! Still, apart from that, I hope that you think that St. Anne’s looked after us pretty well.

John and Sal, I thought, were quite inspirational, and covered a fair amount of ground.  The Aussies certainly have a different approach to things and, as John told us, fight the aromatherapy corner very hard. It was good to hear that Tea Tree and Eucalyptus are off “the skull and crossbones” list. Sal, with a background in martial arts, was fascinating to watch; in fact I spent more time observing the movement of his hands and feet than I did listening to his lecture.  Sorry Sal!  Fortunately the delegates were far more attentive, taking copious notes and asking probing questions.  A great day, and one that I hope I shall be able to repeat in the not-too-distant future.

Out of the Blue (with thanks to Euro Cosmetics).
Why is it that everyone who returns from an Aromatherapy Conference always brings me a write-up on Callitris intratropica Baker & Smith, probably better known as Australian Blue Cypress Oil?  As it is now a few years since I first came across it, it is perhaps about time that I took a closer look at this ancient, southern conifer.

Occurring in open forest and woodlands on rocky ranges or sandy soils, Northern cypress pine grows along the Victoria River and in the Darwin and Gulf Regions.  I know it quite well.  The Aboriginals boil up in water a handful of freshly collected, red, sticky, inner bark and apply the liquid over the whole body to relieve the abdominal pain of diarrhoea. The wash is also used to heal cuts and sores (Barunga, Galwin’ku and Maningrida Aboriginal Communities).  When carefully removed in sections from the tree, the bark retains its cylindrical shape and is tied around fractured limbs.  One book (Scarlett, N., White, N., and Reid, J. 1982, ‘Bush medicines - the pharmacopoeia of the Yolngu of Arnhem Land’, in Body, Land and Spirit, ed. J. Reid, University of Queensland Press, p.172) reports that a bark infusion has been used internally for abdominal pain or discomfort. Sometimes the bark is burnt on a fire as a mosquito repellent. So much for the traditional use of the bark, what of the oil? Early empirical evidence suggests that it might be of use for the treatment of warts and viral infections. It also appears to have anti-inflammatory properties.

When the wood of the tree is distilled, the result is an essential oil of deep blue colour with a subtle woody fragrance. Some have suggested that it is similar to Sandalwood (Santalum album L.), Amyris (Amyris balsamifera L.), Guaiacwood (Bulnesia sarmientoi Lorentz ex Griseb.) [why, I wonder, have we never stocked Guaiacwood?] and Vetiver (Vetiveria zizanoides (L.) Stapf.).  Be this the case, it should have wide application in perfumery. Chosen by Jurlique as The Scent of the 2000 Olympic Games, it contains eudesmols, selinene, guaiol, and guaiazulene which gives it its beautiful colour.  I am told that it blends particularly well with citrus oils, lavender, and floral oils.

Forever Amber.
It is surprising from where information comes. The other day I received a visit from a representative of Oxfordshire Trading Standards, a charming lady who obviously knew far more about essential oils than usual. Fascinated, I asked about her background.  It transpired that she had graduated as a geologist, and was married to a palaeontologist.

An oil about which I am often asked is Amber.  The crude essential oil is produced by destructive (dry) distillation (during which odorous materials are formed which were not present in the botanical raw material) of Amber at atmospheric pressure. Amber is one of the oldest (Tertiary Period) and hardest fossil resins, exuded presumably from Pinus succinifera, a fir.  A palaeontologist!  Whom better to ask?

The fossil resin, which is odourless, is found in many parts of the world but most comes from the Baltic region and the Dominican Republic. That from the Baltic area comes from a deposit known as the Blue Earth, which lies below the water table and extends out into the Baltic Sea.  Storms can rip out amber from this bed and wash it up onto the shores.  Lumps of this amber are also occasionally washed up in Britain on the East Anglian, Kent and Yorkshire coasts.  The largest amber deposits are on and around the Samland Peninsula, in an area that forms a small part of Russia between Poland and Lithuania.
Dominican amber comes from the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles, not the island of Dominica in the Lesser Antilles.  Although this amber was first mentioned by Chritopher Columbus, interest in it only really started in 1960.  There are many mines on the island, most of which occur in the Cordillera Septentrional mountain range. They consist of pits or tunnels that are mined by hand by the local inhabitants.  The amber is taken to the town of Santiago, then to Santo Domingo, where it is checked by the amber museum before being sold by dealers.

Amber pieces which are unfit for jewellery, as well as dust and residues from the gem industry, are submitted to dry distillation in order to yield the so-called Succinol or Crude Amber Oil. Crude (or pyroligneous) amber oil is a dark amber-coloured or brownish, but clear oily liquid. Its odour is smoky, tarlike, resinous, with a distinct resemblance to the odour of tanned leather. Rectified amber oil is produced by steam distillation of the crude, pyroligneous amber oil. The steam distilled oil is a pale yellow and clear liquid with a peculiar burnt-woody, somewhat camphoraceous odour, reminiscent of the ‘still-note’ in certain fresh-distilled fir and spruce needle oils (S. Arctander Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin).

Having analysed our amber oil I would not care to guess its origin as unfortunately I have no published literature with which to compare it.  Certainly it has a most pleasant odour, which probably reflects its major components (limonene 24.3%; geraniol 10.64%; vanillin 12.05%; and coumarin 10.2%). I am sorry to say it but, this smacks of the perfumer’s art! Still I have just had a rare piece of fortune.

To land on my desk the other day was the most amazing collection of fifty-year-old oils. The property of a former employee of the Public Laboratory Service, I was asked if I would like to analyse them.  You bet I would!  These are all authenticated samples.  Amazingly the oil of bergamot smells as fresh as ever. The neroli is a bit flat, but after fifty years?!  However what really excites me is the authentic sample of amber oil.  I can barely wait to find out what is in it.

Oh, by the way, commonly prescribed for heart conditions by medical doctors in the 1920s, amber oil is little used in the West today but a drop applied to the point of the “Third Eye” is absorbed by the body and stimulates the pineal gland (The Book of Sufi Healing).

Amber - The natural time capsule.
Finally, for those whose children wonder is Jurassic Park  possible? DNA was first reported to have been recovered from amber in 1992 when scientists in California claimed to have extracted fragments of DNA from an extinct species of bee (Proplebeia dominicana) in Dominican amber.  Experiments on the survival rate of DNA have shown that it breaks down very quickly, particularly in the presence of water. However, the insects in amber are dehydrated and if this happened quickly then it could possibly halt the decay of the DNA. 

Scientists at The Natural History Museum in London have tried to repeat the experiments to obtain DNA from the Dominican amber bee.  Several suitable specimens were selected, broken up and tested, but no insect DNA was recovered. This casts doubt on the earlier reports. Even if DNA could be extracted from insects in amber, a real-life Jurassic Park is not possible. Why? First, there are no known insect-bearing Jurassic ambers.  Second, contrary to popular belief, mosquitoes (Diptera:Culicidae) are very rare in amber. There is one recorded from Canadian amber, but this requires confirmation.  There are only a handful known in Baltic amber and a few tens of specimens in Dominican amber.

Sandflies (Diptera:Psychodidae), which have been found in Burmese and Lebanese amber, perhaps as one has large mouthparts similar to those of a living species that feeds on the blood of crocodiles. This type of fly could well have fed on the blood of dinosaurs.  However, it is extremely unlikely that anyone will destroy this specimen on the remote chance of extracting DNA because it is a male and only female sandflies feed on blood! (Andrew Ross, Amber, The Natural History Museum).

Millennial Lavender.
I was hoping to get through this Newsletter without mentioning the ‘M’ word, but no such luck!  Pacific 8 Millenium Oil?  I had to find out more.

Pacific 8, said the advance publicity, is an unique blend of essential oil of lavender, New Zealand born and obtained only from the first country to be touched by the sun’s rays in the new millennium.  This oil is distilled from plants grown on sunny hillsides near the two North Island mountains Ruapehu and Taranaki, sacred to the local Maori Iwi.  The name reflects the holistic and balanced nature of the essence of pure lavender: Millennium means a time of peace and happiness, also embodied in the word Pacific.  The harmony of the figure 8 completes the circle and the holistic approach of all that is lavender. My word!  When did New Zealand start growing lavender?

The industry had its beginnings in 1983, when the Crop and Food Research Division of the Department of Science and Industrial Research imported three cultivars [which?] of lavender for trial in Otago. With the subsequent success of these plantings, and the distillation of essential oil, the New Zealand lavender industry was born. In 1994, Crop and Food Research invited interested growers to a workshop in Christchurch.  From this initial group, seven were prepared to take things further and at a subsequent meeting in 1995 a core of 15 interested growers emerged to form the New Zealand Lavender Oil Producers Association. Some may recollect that I wrote a couple of years later about an exceptional oil (to my nose at least) distilled from a New Zealand lavender hybrid, Pacific Blue.

From memory, which is difficult with odours, I do not think 8 quite the match of Blue but it does have a very fine aroma.  Try it, and see what you think. For the chemically-minded, I think it a nicely balanced oil: linalool (30.4%); linalyl acetate (31.2%); camphor (5.3%); 1,8-cineole (4.5%); terpinen-4-ol (3.9%); lavandulyl acetate (2.9%); borneol (1.8%), among others.

Chamomile Confusion.
Sal Battaglia, in The Complete Guide to Aromatherapy, claims that Moroccan Wild Chamomile (Ormenis mixta Mair.) may be used as an economical substitute for the more expensive Roman Chamomile (Anthemis nobilis L.). Len Price, quite rightly to my mind, in the Summer 1998 edition of Aromatherapy World, pointed out that, although some aromatherapists have reported that they have found some of the properties of this essential oil to be similar in effect to that of the ‘true’ chamomiles, caution is advised in taking Battaglia’s advice too far as the chemical composition is quite different.  But what is the chemical composition?

The most oft-quoted analysis that I have read is that of B. Toulemonde and D. Beauverd, Contribution a l’etude d’une camomille sauvage du Maroc: L’huile essentielle d’Ormenis mixta. Parfum.Cosmet.Aromes, 60, 65-67 (1984). I believe that they identified almost 170 separate compounds but amongst them are alpha-pinene (15.0%), yomogi alcohol (2.4%), santolina alcohol (3.2%), trans-pinocarveol (3.0%), and bornyl acetate (2.2%). I suspect that this was the source of reference for Len’s article but, unfortunately, it is somewhat misleading as he quotes the santolina alcohol content at 32%. Sal seems to quote the same information but makes no typographical errors (if it be an error!). Interestingly Pierre Franchomme and Daniel Pénoël in their L’Aromatherapie exactement mention 33% santolina alcohol. Who is correct, I wonder?  Have any of them actually analysed the oil themselves?

Franchomme & Penoel suggest that, most importantly, the oil is a neurotonic and useful in cases of nervous depression and asthenia. Apparently beneficial to the digestive system and for speeding up sluggish liver and gall bladder functions, it also aids the working of the pancreas. Price himself suggests (Aromatherapy for Health Professionals, 1995) that on skin conditions the oil is antiinflammatory and antipruritic, rather like German Chamomile (Matricaria recutita L.) but at a lower cost, and so finds a useful role in dry dermatitis and eczema.


Therefore, bearing all this in mind, I was extremely surprised when analysing a sample of so-called Moroccan Wild Chamomile to discover that it contained 20.73% alpha-pinene, 24.47% 1,8-cineole and a whopping 23.4% fenchone, amongst others.  From what plant could this oil have come? 

More familiar with the occurrence of fenchone in fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Batt. & Trab.) and, to a lesser extent, in labdanum (Cistus ladaniferus L.) and xinyi, or Japanese willow-leaf magnolia (Magnolia salicifolia (Siebold & Zucc.) Maxim.), I could not believe however that any of these were involved.            

The more I thought about it, the more I came to the conclusion that such a trivial name could encompass any plant that was wild, came from Morocco, and was a chamomile. Ormenis mixta, or Ormenis multicaulis, or Anthemis mixta, as it has variously been called, no longer seems to conform to the rules of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (Tokyo Code) (ICBN, Greuter et al. 1994) and therefore is not extant in the most up-to-date literature. This has become a bit of a poser and I don’t think that I have the answer yet.  However may I suggest a couple of possibilities: Anthemis arvensis L., corn or field chamomile, which grows in North Africa or, perhaps, Anthemis cotula L., dog-fennel or stinking chamomile.  I should much like to know if others have any ideas. Meanwhile I would take care when using Wild Moroccan Chamomile, whatever it may be!

Perceptions.
As with aromas, people definitely seem to know what they do and do not like when it comes to music.  Mike in our bottling department, where I have been trialling The Beautiful Music of Ian Cameron Smith whose sampler appeared in the last edition of Aromatherapy Today, has just dumped Inner Tides back on my desk with the comment.....I prefer Heavy Metal!  There is no accounting for taste: personally I quite like it. However I defy anyone not to like the soaps of Melinda Coss. They look scrumptious: but I have yet to find out if they lather.  Am I going to eat them, or wash with them?!  Obviously few had to perceive the value of 20ml for 10ml: bottles have rushed off the shelves.  In fact so great has the demand been that we have had to re-stock several times and, as a result, are now a few days behind with orders. What I perceived to be a good idea has turned out to be a massive headache. Still, I shall undoubtedly survive!

Finally.......


WE SHALL BE CLOSED
FROM NOON, 24TH DECEMBER, 1999
UNTIL TUESDAY, 4TH JANUARY, 2000.

LAST ORDERS: TUESDAY, 21ST DECEMBER!


Have a wonderful, happy, healthy and festive time!

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