There are more than a dozen professional organisations and about 50 schools of aromatherapy

There are more than a dozen professional organisations, and about 50 schools of aromatherapy.The consequence of this lack of homogeneity is confusion, according to Dr Michael Kirk-Smith, a reader in behavioural sciences at Ulster University who is at the forefront of the move to validate the therapeutic benefits of aromatherapy in this country.He is conducting a survey of practitioners to discover the sort of qualifications they possess, who they are treating and with what. There are more than 3,000 aromatherapists whose expertise varies from that obtained on a weekend course or at night-school, to the experts who have studied it for years. They fear their efforts are being undermined by cowboys and quacks, small companies which are exploiting a lucrative market, and untrained therapists who make claims they cannot substantiate.Aromatherapy is now the most popular of all alternative therapies, says the Health Education Authority. The Arthritis Oil, which costs pounds 8.50 mail order for just 100ml and is presented with medicinal flair in a small brown bottle, contravenes the Medicines Act 1968, according to the Department of Health, which bars such products from making medicinal claims.
The oil is unlikely to cause any harm and probably does aid relaxation, but its marketing is part of a growing trend which alarms orthodox medical practitioners, professional aromatherapists and scientists, who are researching the powerful effects of such oils. The manufacturer says there are glowing testimonials to its effect. The secret of its success, according to the accompanying leaflet, lies in its special blend of essential oils, which permeate the skin to ”detoxify the body and improve circulation”.

Whereas orthodox medicine offers only pain-killing drugs with unpleasant side-effects, this gentle aromatherapy treatment, which is pleasing to the senses, has an undeniable appeal Unfortunately, it is illegal. THE CLEAR, yellow oil smells sweetly of lavender and camomile, disguising the more astringent odours of the juniper and black pepper extracts. A few drops in a hot bath or applied in a gentle massage promises relief from inflamed joints, stiffness and the pain of arthritis. With the growth of the environmental and conservation movements, there is growing recognition that areas of great natural beauty are vital parts of the national heritage.So it is that the Fund has agreed to help buy Strathaird estate It is an important change.

The Fund’s emphasis remains firmly on the arts, but the new willingness to consider substantial support for land acquisition represents a significant reversion to Dalton’s original aims for the National Land Fund, and for a war memorial ”better than any work of art in stone or bronze”.- The writer is Labour MP for Cunninghame North and publisher of the ‘West Highland Free Press’.(Photograph omitted). This seemed to denote the final abandonment of Dalton’s vision.With the passage of another decade and a half, however, the wheel appears to have turned slowly in the other direction. This prompted the House of Commons expenditure committee to review what had happened to the Fund over the previous 30 years. They found that its aims had been perverted – and bitterly criticised the Treasury.Soon, however, the Conservatives were back in office and in 1981 all reference to land was dropped from the title, as it became the National Heritage Memorial Fund – devoted overwhelmingly to the purchase of buildings and works of art. It also fell slowly into disuse.So little was acquired after 1951 that the capital actually increased and in 1957 the Treasury ”clawed back” pounds 50m of the pounds 60m then in the Fund. That raid was condemned by Dalton as a ”dull and reactionary” act, but his plea for a reversion to the Fund’s original aims wasignored.The National Land Fund drifted along until 1977, when it was called on to assist in the purchase of the Mentmore Treasures. The result was that the National Land Fund became an arts fund.

This was extended in 1956 to all works of art, and in 1973 prints, books, manuscripts and items of scientific interest were dragged in as well. First they amended the Act to allow the Fund also to buy the contents of properties it acquired. All over the country – mainly on the death of their owners – estates fell into the hands of public or recreational bodies.The Conservatives never liked the idea, which they saw as a challenge to private ownership, and when they came to office in 1951, the erosion of Dalton’s great vision was swift and subtle. The lodge went to the Scottish Youth Hostel Association, which occupies it to this day. It was a visionary act, in immediate post-war conditions, to set aside pounds 50m – almost pounds 300m at today’s values – for a fund which was to acquire ‘’some of the loveliest parts of this land.

dedicated to the memory of the dead, and to the use and enjoyment of the living for ever”.The Fund worked well at first, buying the run-down, 39,000-acre Lake Bala estates in Wales and then the 12,000-acre Rowardennan estate on Loch Lomond. In making this grant the Fund, soon to become rich as a National Lottery beneficiary, was returning after a long interval to its original calling.
It came into being in 1946 as the National Land Fund, created in the final passage of Hugh Dalton’s Budget speech as ”a thank-offering for victory and a war memorial which, in the judgement of many, is better than any work of art in stone or bronze”. The buyer was the John Muir Trust, a conservation body, but the purchase was assisted by a contribution of pounds 400,000 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund. THE SALE this month of the Strathaird estate on the Isle of Skye attracted attention because it included part of the mighty Cuillin range of mountains, and because the seller was Ian Anderson, of the group Jethro Tull It has another claim to notice, a historical one. Wildlife will suffer and may have to be eradicated in certain areas. Oral vaccine in bait may be needed for wild predators, with increased rates or taxes to cover the administrative costs.