Dr. August Siebert, engaged in medical practice in St. Louis and well known through his contributions to the literature of the profession, is a native of Hadamar, Germany, and a son of Joseph and Emma (Troost) Siebert. The father was a mining engineer and was also the author of a work on fishes. The ancestry of the family can be traced back to the fourth century, Sigebert in France, prominent leaders in the Crusades. In the middle ages many representatives of the family were professional men, including distinguished physicians.
Dr. Siebert was accorded liberal educational opportunities, pursuing his studies in Heidelberg, Germany, Bern, Switzerland, Paris, France, and Edinburgh, Scotland, completing a course in chemistry and in medicine. He came to the United States in 1896 and has now practiced in St. Louis for a period of twenty-five years. In this field he has done an extensive work of important character and is widely known through his contributions to medical literature. He has written many articles on goiters, specializing in this in his medical papers. He is also the author of a book on Logical Foundation of Simple Life and in Heidelberg wrote a volume entitled The Effects of the Light Waves upon the Bodies. He is also the author of many articles on moral and social questions which have appeared especially in magazines and German newspapers.
For many years Dr. Siebert carried on an extensive research to effect a cure for the terrible scourge of tuberculosis through the use of light waves and under date of May 21, 1911, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch devoted a full page in the magazine section to a detailed account of his discoveries. During the World’s Exposition held in this city in 1904 Dr. Siebert lectured before the Academy of Sciences on the subject of S-Rays, a nerve exhausting source of light, bound to a liquid, and exhibited the material he had collected in his years of experimental work. Unfortunately this material was lost shortly after, being stolen by a party who claimed to be a correspondent of an American scientific paper. It is the intention of Dr. Siebert again to take up his research worn when he retires from active work as a physician.
In Switzerland in 1895 Dr. Siebert was united in marriage to Wilhelmina Steiger, a daughter of Henry Steiger, secretary of the statistical bureau of Bern. To Dr. and Mrs. Siebert have been born the following named: Erhardt Fritz August, who is a sculptor of New York; Alfred Henry; Walter Joseph; Elizabeth Lilly; and Theodore Roosevelt.
In politics Dr. Siebert is a progressive republican of the Roosevelt type and was a warm admirer of “the most typical American citizen.” In 1912 he was nominated for congress on the progressive ticket and much of his personal popularity is indicated in the fact that he received the largest vote given to a progressive candidate in St. Louis.