A very happy, healthy and successful New Year!

In fact, as far as writing this is concerned, I still have a couple of weeks to go before old gives way to new but I am under pressure to get it to the printers before they close until the New Year.  Also I don’t want to be left hanging around the office again after all have left to jug up in the local hostelry or to do last minute shopping, but at the moment I don’t feel particularly in the mood for either. 

I don’t know about you but, this year, it hasn’t felt very Christmassy - the weather is still unseasonably clement and Royal Mail and Parcelforce seem to be coping fine.  Although we are as busy as ever, it just isn’t hectic.  Are we better organised than usual, I wonder?  True, we do have an excellent team at the moment and I think that this makes all the difference. Nevertheless I fear that some are leaving it rather late.

Meanwhile Duncan pursues relentlessly any parcel that might go astray, whilst Jan and Jade calm jangled nerves. Karla and Ella, beneath their baseball caps (it can’t always be a bad hair day!), work feverishly picking and labelling as David and Robin unfalteringly maintain a constant stream of filled bottles.  Meanwhile, surrounded by oils, creams, books, burners, soaps and candles, Genine, Rachel and Heidi serenely pack and parcel. It’s a joy to watch. My sincere and great thanks to them all.

Of course, it is at this time of year that I also join the fray. I was just speaking to the older man......which, literally translated, means the fellow who has completely lost it! Vegetable and essential oils cause me little problem, but questions like.....Is the Lavender Body Butter any good?....Does the As You Like It Scrub really work?....How do you find the Neroli and Ambrette, is it truly pure indulgence?....Meanwhile will you speak to my children down the phone whilst I get my credit card?....have me at a disadvantage. One young lady even asked me if the Body Butter was good enough to eat!  Perhaps it is time to hang up my ear trumpet. However it does give me the opportunity to be slightly flip, but recently I was hoisted by my own petard.

Immediately upon leaving school, rather than having a few months rest before going up to university (which I had foreseen as a summer idyll), my father insisted that I become articled as a solicitor. What’s more, if that was not enough to occupy my day, he enrolled me for Welsh language classes in the evening. After all, he expounded, we live in Wales and you should speak the language and, to make sure that you don’t err, you will be articled to me. Gordon Bennett!

We had moved from Sleaford in Lincolnshire to Brecon in Mid Wales in 1947 but I had been bundled off quickly to boarding school back in England, where I was quite an oddity: there were only two of us from Wales.  Although I did avoid the soubriquet “Taffy”, because my fellow Welshman had been tagged with this the year before, I was labelled “Fatty”. We were both quite portly small boys and so Tweedledum and Tweedledee might have been more apt but, at home, my father had taken to calling me “Brumas”, after a polar bear which had been born recently at London Zoo (and continued to do so until the day he died), which makes me think that I was not only a little round but also somewhat rumbustious!

Anyhow, more than a decade later, there I was back in Wales with my rounded vowels and public school pretension.  Upon reflection, my father was probably quite correct - I needed it knocked out of me. I was given the most menial tasks and learning Welsh was a struggle but, as the weeks passed by, I became absorbed increasingly in the Principality and its culture and heritage.  Under the tutelage of my father’s former assistant, a native Welsh speaker and able lawyer, I was moved from Brecon to Bridgend to attend university in Cardiff.  They were long days but, of my own volition, I studied for, and passed, an ‘A’level in Welsh Medieval History to further my understanding.  Don’t get me wrong, I was no swot and found time also to hone my darts and drinking skills around the pubs of Aberkenfig, Blaengarw and Ogmore! 

Today, forty-five years later, my legal career has been long abandoned and I have forgotten all my Welsh, except a few words and phrases.  Nevertheless, somewhat foolishly, I am always keen to exercise my long-lost talent. The other day, whilst speaking to Mrs. K. Burtt from Caernarfon, I thought that I would wish her the compliments of the season in her native tongue.  Wowee!  She nailed me back in my chair with a torrent of the most beautifully spoken Welsh. I was flummoxed! I should have learnt my lesson, but there I was a few days later tongue-tied by Mrs. A. Williams of Kingston-upon-Hull, where she has been since 1963 but her Welsh is still impeccable.
 
Most courteously, but quite correctly, they both chastised me mildly and made me promise that I would write something about Wales in this newsletter!

The Physicians of Myddfai.
Some years ago, whilst browsing in a bookshop in Hay-on-Wye, I stumbled across a copy of Welsh Herbal Medicine by David Hoffmann.

Although I knew of David from reading his bestselling New Holistic Herbal I had forgotten that, whilst working in conservation and lecturing in ecology and the eco-crisis for the University of Wales, he had become convinced that to heal the world, to embrace planetary wholeness and responsibility for it with hope, he as an individual had to be whole within himself.  This moved him to start exploring herbal medicine as a truly ecological healing for the body as well as the spirit.

To this end he studied four years with the National Institute of Medical Herbalists and also co-founded a spiritual community in the Preseli Mountains area of West Wales. Whilst living in Dyfed, he discovered the value of herbs and the wisdom of the Physicians of Myddfai.  In fact I believe that he probably wrote his “Welsh Herbal”some years before his “Holistic Herbal”. However the herbal lore of the old herbalists of Wales, the Physicians of Myddfai, had escaped my attention.

Medicine, meddyginiaeth, is said to have been included among “the nine rural arts known and practised by the ancient Welsh, before they became possessed of cities and sovereignty”, that is, before the time of Prydain ab Aedd Mawr, about 1,000 B.C. In that early period, the priests and teachers were the Gwyddoniaid, or men of knowledge, who were looked upon as the chief sources of wisdom in the land.

It is to these men that the ancient art of healing in Wales is attributed. The three sciences which they chiefly studied were astronomy, theology, and medical botany.  The remedies they used were mainly confined to herbs.

During the reign of Prydain, the Gwyddoniaid became divided into three orders, which consisted of the Druids, the Bards, and the Ovates, each of which had its peculiar specific duties as well as privileges. The Druids were responsible for the mystic and religious rites, the Bards for oratory, poetry and music whilst the Ovates for the natural sciences and medicine.

It is probable that the Druids and Ovates became acquainted with Greek medicine through the Phoenicians, who traded with Britain, because in later times the name Hippocrates (the Father of Medicine, so-called) is mentioned, and his works were much admired by the Physicians of Myddfai.            
Whilst mention is made of medical matters in the work of Taliesin, the “Chief of Bards”, in the 6th century, it is to the time of Hywel Dda (916-50) that we must look to follow the developments of Welsh medicine.  Hywel Dda, Howel the Good, was the sovereign of Wales. He laid down a code of laws, one of which dealt with the office and privileges of a physician to the Royal Court, which was used by the Welsh until the time of Edward I (1272-1307).

The next authentic account of Welsh medicine dates from the early part of the 13th century, during the time of of Rhys Gryg, Rhys the Hoarse, a son of Rhys ab Gruffydd, a great prince of South Wales. Following ancient custom he had his own physician, named Rhiwallon, who was assisted by three sons, Cadwgan, Gruffydd and Einion. The family lived in the village of Myddfai, some twenty odd miles from where I grew up.  

Under the patronage of Rhys, the physicians made a collection of medical recipes applicable to various diseases of the body “as a record of their skill lest no one should be found with the skill they were”. Many of the prescriptions can be traced back to the time of Hywel Dda, if not earlier.  It was the Physicians of Myddfai, Meddygon o Myddfai, however, who collected them and put them in writing for the first time, and thus the valuable record of this medical knowledge of this early period has been handed down to us. 

Yr hén wr llwyd o’r cornel,
Gan ei dad a glywodd chwedel,
A chan ei dad fe glywodd yntau
Ac ar ei ôl mi gofiais innau.

The grey old man in the corner,
Of his father heard a story,
Which came from his father he had heard,
And after them I have remembered.

Learning about Linden.
The inflorescences of Tilia cordata Mill. and Tilia platiphyllos Scop. (species of Lime or Linden trees) have been available over the counter for many years and are used to prepare infusions that would be slightly sedative, so I read in the older literature.

The taxonomy of the genus is delicate and encumbered by numerous synonyms and needless descriptions of species and varieties: often these are only hybrids, and all European species are interfertile. The most common species are - the lime tree (Tilia cordata Mill. = Tilia parviflora Ehrh. ex Hofm.) - the broad-leaved or big-leaf linden (Tilia platiphyllos Scop.), for which the Flora Europea describes three sub-species: ssp. platiphyllos, ssp. cordifolia (Besser) C.K. Schneider and ssp. pseudurubra C.K. Schneider - and the hybrid of these Tilia x vulgaris Hayne (= Tilia intermedia DC = small-leaved lime). Another species, the silver linden (Tilia tomentosa Moench = Tilia argentea DC), is also common, but may not be considered for any medicinal uses.

Lime trees are tall trees with smooth gray bark, with leaves that are cordate (heart-shaped) at the base and abruptly acuminate (tapering to a point), smaller (3-9cm) for T. cordata than for T. platiphyllos (6-9cm). The flowers are pentamerous and pleasantly fragrant, and grouped in cymes of 5 to 14 (T. cordata) or 2 to 5 (T. platiphyllos). In both cases the inflorescence is on a peduncle (stem) fused onto a long, membranous, and colurless or greenish-yellow bract (a leaflike organ subtending an inflorescence, which is sometimes brightly coloured and petal like, as in Bougainvillea).  The fruit is a small indehiscent (does not open to disperse its contents) capsule of 6mm (cordata) or 8-10mm (platiphyllos).

Formerly an important tree in lowland England, characterizing the original forest as the last tree to enter Great Britain after the last Ice Age but not reaching Scotland and Ireland, it is now cultivated ornamentally.  It provides useful bee-fodder though some sugars (mannose) are toxic in excess, so dead bees (often bumblebees) are often found below flowering trees. It attracts also aphids which secrete large amounts of honeydew on pavements and parked cars at a rate of 1 kilo per square metre per annum. I loathe them!

The inflorescences are collected manually when almost all of the flowers are in bloom. On the market there are a lot of lime blossoms from remote sources (presumably T. chinensis Maxim., T. mandschurica Rupr.) and of very uneven quality (especially the “tea bag” cuts).

Lime tree inflorescences, or linden flowers, are rich in phenolic compounds: phenolic acids, proanthocyanadins (B-2, B-4), tannins, and especially flavonoids (1%: quercitrin, tiliroside [p-coumaroyl-6-glucosyl-3-kaempferol], hyperoside, rhamnosyl-7-kaempferol, and others.

Their odour is linked to a small amount of essential oil, which varies in composition with the localization: that from the bracts is rich in phenylacetaldehyde and other aldehydes, whereas that from the blossoms is dominated by monoterpenoid hydrocarbons. They both contain oxygenated mono- and sesquiterpenes (e.g., linalool, geraniol, farnesol (free and acetylated), camphor, carvone, cineole), aromatic alcohols (phenylethanol, benzylic alcohol, and more), phenols and aliphatic compounds.

The composition of lime tree sap-wood (aubier de tilleul in French) is ill-known (phenolic acids, tannins, fraxoside, esculoside, amino acids, and more); several authors report, with no reference, the presence of phloroglucinol. 

The pharmacological potential of the flowers does not seem to have especially caught the attention of pharmacologists: although some terpenoid alcohols are not inactive (e.g., sedative and spasmolytic).

The sap-wood underwent several experimental studies in the early 1960s: it is a serotonin antagonist, a musculotropic spasmolytic, a diuretic, and a hypotensive agent.  At the gall bladder level, it decreases the flow rate of bile. In man, some observations support the usefulness of sap-wood preparations for the treatment of biliary dyskinesia.

Linden flowers are essentially used for the preparation of hygienic and comforting beverages. They may be included in the composition of plant-based medications by claiming the following indication: traditionally used in the symptomatic treatment of neurotonic states in adults and children, especially in the case of minor sleep disturbances.  Some use linden flower preparations as adjunctive emollient and itch-relieving treatment for dermatological conditions.

Lime tree sap-wood in nebulization is suggested in the symptomatic treatment of dyspeptic troubles (epigastric bloating, impairment of digestion, and more).

Phloroglucinol and its trimethyl ether are proposed, orally or by injection, as spasmolytic agents in the case of hepatic or nephritic colic, spasmodic colitis, spasmodic dysmenorrhea, and more.

The blossoms of the linden tree emit a strong and delightful perfume which can be reproduced quite satisfactorily by mixtures of synthetic aromatics (hydroxycitronellal, etc.) and essential oils.  The natural flower oil of the linden blossoms is, therefore, rarely produced commercially.

However extraction of flowers using petroleum ether yields a concrete, which is hard, waxy mass of dark green colour, with an herb-like odour reminiscent of dried hay, but not at all characteristic of linden blossoms.  On treatment with alcohol, the concrete gives a viscous, greenish absolute.  The odour is only reminiscent of the linden blossoms. Therefore most “commercial” absolutes are either adulterated to improve the fragrance or synthetic.

In aromatherapy it is considered useful for cramps, indigestion, liver pains, headaches, insomnia, migraine, nervous tension, and stress.          

However, because the essential oil is rarely available and the absolute often adulterated or synthetic, macerated lime blossom oil has gained importance.

The flowers are left to steep in good quality vegetable oil (usually organic sunflower oil) for several days with occasional agitation before the plant material is filtered off.

It is proposed that the macerated oil is useful for wrinkles, soothing rheumatic pain, aiding sleep, and relieving itching skin.

Bulbous investment?
Having mentioned briefly “tulipmania” in Newsletter 133, I was surprised to find it headline news in a recent edition of the Financial Times.

Nearly 400 years ago Holland was gripped by tulipmania, with great speculation in bulbs especially those with ‘broken’flowers: in 1637 a single bulb was bought for the price of the grandest Amsterdam townhouse.  However the market overheated, collapsed, and thousands of people were bankrupted. A severe lesson you would think.

Nevertheless, today’s flower fanatics have forked out a minimum of £70,000 each, on the promise of a possible return of up to 30%, to an investment fund set up to support the development of new and profitable tulip varieties. Believe it or not, about 120 Dutch investors have ploughed almost £60 million into the fund.  I hope that they know what they are doing!
  
A few words about Wintergreen.
My current assignment is analysing “toxic oils”. I have chosen to look at wintergreen but am finding it hard to find the chemical information. I was wondering if you had anything which might be of help to me.....e-mailed an advanced aromatherapy student.

Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens L.) is one of the oldest and best-known American flavours.  Its strong, characteristic taste was familiar to the native American Indians, who chewed the leaves for their agreeable odour and flavour. Early French explorers probably learned from them how to employ wintergreen in hot infusions. As a result of such use, the leaf came to be known as Thé du Canada.  It is recorded that during the American War of Independence leaves of wintergreen were often substituted for Chinese tea.

However, since natural wintergreen oil consists almost entirely of methyl salicylate (96/99%), the oil is frequently adulterated with synthetic methyl salicylate.  Moderate additions of this ester are most difficult to detect.  Large additions may result in a slight lowering of the optical rotation of the oil (which, however, is already very low in genuine oils).

Formerly synthetic methyl salicylate often contained small quantities of free phenol, and when identifying phenol in a wintergreen oil the conclusion could be drawn that the oil had been adulterated with synthetic material.  Today, however, synthetic methyl salicylate is made in such a pure state that in most cases it no longer contains phenol.

We have analysed many oils, but chemical means are of little help in proving adulteration. Smell seems to be the only real guide - genuine wintergreen oil has a characteristic heavy and smoky note, which is missing in synthetic wintergreen oil. Much of what we analyse is far too “clean” on nose, which makes me think that it has never been near a wintergreen leaf in its life.  Why?  Competition from synthetic methyl salicylate, low prices for the natural oil, and the shortage of labour, have probably operated to discourage most traditional distillers.

The leaves should be distilled as fresh as possible. They may, however, be stored as long as two weeks, provided they are carefully spread out to dry. Wet leaf material tends to ferment; it may spoil, or give a low yield of oil, which obviously must be avoided.  However it is necessary to submit the leaf material to intentional fermentation, by maceration in warm water, shortly before distillation. Such fermentation causes splitting of the primeveroside of methyl salicylate and frees the methyl salicylate. Methyl salicylate does not occur in the plant in free form, but as glycoside. The plant contains very little volatile oil, and it is only after splitting of the glycoside under the influence of the enzyme primeverosidase that appreciable  yields of oil can be obtained - the use of synthetic methyl salicylate is undoubtedly an easier and cheaper option.

In sweets, toothpaste, chewing gum and industrial products, the natural essential oil has been replaced by pure synthetic methyl salicylate which, although not exactly toxic, is harmful to humans in larger doses. Many people, particularly children, have died from accidental intake of industrial products that have been flavoured with this all-American popular chemical.  Its use in root beer, an American effervescent soft drink, has made the methyl salicylate flavour popular, and this flavour may attract the curiosity of children if they meet the odour in certain non-edible industrial products. Hence the accidents.

Cutaneous absorption of methyl salicylate is rapid, and has been detected in the urine half an hour after application to the skin.  It can cause dermal eruptions, and the ingestion of oil of wintergreen has been reported to precipitate urticaria.  In view of this the oil should be reserved for local applications only, ideally undertaken by someone who has been trained in the use of this hazardous substance.

A brief look at Laurel.
I don’t know why I haven’t looked at Laurel Leaf (Laurus nobilis L.) before, because several swear by it. Still, prompted by a recent report which suggested that the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect of the essential oil was comparable to reference analgesics and non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs such as morphine and piroxicam, I thought that I had better have a closer look [Sayyah, M. et al. Analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity of the leaf essential oil of Laurus nobilis L. Phytotherapy Research (2003), 17(7), 733-736].

An evergreen tree, growing to 20 metres high, it is cultivated in many temperate and warm parts of the world, particularly in the countries bordering the Mediterranean.  In ancient Greece and Rome its leaves and branchlets were used as garlands to be bestowed upon heroes on festive occasions. The dried leaves, also called sweet bay are highly regarded in cooking. They contain an essential oil of aromatic, spicy odour and flavour, which can be isolated by steam distillation.

The leaves of the true Laurus nobilis, however, must not be confused with those of the West Indian bay tree (Pimenta racemosa (Mill.) J.W. Moore) [which is sometimes called the bay rum tree], the Californian bay laurel (Umbellularia californica Nutt.), or the cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus L.). The leaves of the last named species are poisonous because of their content of prussic acid.  Unfortunately, in the literature, the word bay may mean any of these botanicals, among others.

The leaves contain 0.3-3.1% essential oil that is composed mainly of 1,8-cineole (30-50%),  a-pinene, linalool, a-terpinyl acetate, sabinene, a-terpineol, b-pinene, limonene, p-cymene, terpinen-4-ol, camphene, methyl eugenol and b-elemene, among others.

The essential oil has been reported to have bactericidal and fungicidal properties; it also depressed the heart rate and lowered blood pressure in animals.  Formulations containing laurel leaf oil have been claimed to have antidandruff activities. However allergic reactions (contact dermatitis) have been documented in some individuals. Also, because of the methyl eugenol present (4%), which has been reported to have sedative and narcotic properties in mice, it would be wise to use it only in moderation and certainly not during pregnancy.

Nevertheless, the aromatherapy literature suggests that it could assist with a number of ailments: general aches and pains, arthritis, rheumatism, chronic bronchitis, asthma, sinus infection, colds, flu, dyspepsia, flatulence, exams and interviews! 

From my own experience I can confirm that it does ease rheumatism, and a recent study by researchers in the Department of Pneumology at Bonn University Hospital suggests that the anti-inflammatory activity of 1,8-cineole is helpful in bronchial asthma [Juergens, U.R. et al. Anti-inflammatory activity of 1,8-cineole (eucalyptol) in bronchial asthma. Respiratory Medicine (2003), 97(3), 250-256].

Multiple sclerosis helped by reflexology.
Reflexology can help improve the symptoms of multiple sclerosis, according to new Israeli data [Multiple Sclerosis (2003), 9, 356-61].

In this study, fifty-three people with multiple sclerosis randomly received either reflexology on the soles of their feet and calf massage, or a sham treatment, including calf massage only. The forty-five minute treatments were given weekly for eleven weeks, followed by an evaluation of symptoms such as paraesthesia (abnormal tactile sensation such as burning, tingling, prickling, numbing), urinary symptoms, and muscle spasticity and strength.

The reflexology group improved in all four symptoms - significantly so for paraesthesia , urinary symptoms and muscle spasticity.  There was no improvement in the group receiving the sham treatment.  The paraesthesia improvement persisted for at least three months after the reflexology stopped.

According to PROOF! magazine, although only a few studies of reflexology have been done, there is at least one other suggesting that reflexology may be helpful in multiple sclerosis.

Old wives’ tale?
Many years ago I remember that whenever I had the slightest bump, which was quite often, my mother would slap a cabbage leaf upon the afflicted area and send me quickly on my way. Well, it seems that some doctors as well may finally be latching on to this method of reducing swelling.

Apparently, several doctors were amused by one old woman who lurched into their surgery with a cabbage leaf taped to her swollen knee - they photographed the cabbage and knee, no doubt telling the poor old dear that it was for medical research, and then submitted the picture as a joke.

But others who know better have taken them to task.  One GP, herself a regular user of the cabbage leaf, says breastfeeding mothers often use the leaves to soothe engorged breasts. The leaves can be applied to any inflamed body part, she adds [BMJ, 2003; 327: 451].

In fact, cabbage (Brassica oleracea L.) has traditionally been used for medicinal purposes as well as for cooking since ancient times. As well as anti-inflammatory properties, it is said to contain chemicals which can prevent cancer.  The ancient Greeks used fresh white cabbage juice to relieve sore or infected eyes, and juice from the cabbage stem is good for ulcers. The Romans and Egyptians would drink cabbage juice as a matter of course before big dinners to prevent intoxication, and cabbage seeds are said to prevent hangovers.  Nothing’s new!

Finally.....
I have been told recently that there is a high incidence of thyroid cancer and thyroid problems in aromatherapists. Has anyone else heard this?  If so, I should much like to know the basis for such conjecture.  Any theories?  



charles@essentiallyoils.com
 

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