The Healing Power of Essential Oils : Fragrance Secrets for Everyday Use/Rodolphe Balz. 1999, 203 p., figs, $12. ISBN 81-208-1612-9.
Contents: Introduction. 1. Human beings and the plant Kingdom. 2. Taking responsibility for our health. 3. Special characteristics and advantages of essential oils. 4. General properties of essential oils. 5. Self-treatment and its limitations. 6. How to use essential oils. 7. List of essential oils and their properties. 8. Therapeutic index. 9. Reference section. 10. Bibliography.
"Essential oils--fragrant essences for health and well-being-are among the most popular natural remedies today.
'Rodolphe Balz has had intensive experience with the power of plants. For more than 15 years, he has been organically cultivating spice plants and healing herbs in the French Provence. The knowledge which he has collected as a result is now described in this unique compendium. It includes substantial and important information about the essential oils, how they work, and how to use them, making it an indispensable handbook for aromatherapy.
"The heart of this book is the index of the essential oils and their properties. More than 200 essential oils are described in precise detail here, followed by a particularly comprehensive therapeutic index which makes it easier to put them to practical use.
"Further topics of the book are distillation processes that extract valuable essences while protecting their powers, concentrations, chemotypes, signs of quality, quality control, toxicity, as well as the physical, anti-infectious, and resistance-increasing properties, to name just a few. The possibilities and limitations of self-medication, the aromatogram, and a great variety of application areas are also explained here.
"In constant contact with the most competent distillers and aromatherapists throughout the world, Rodolphe Balz continually tests and expands the great quantities of important information which he receives about essential oils." (jacket)