TRINIDAD : THEN AND NOW. 



268 



chapter I promised to refer to it again, I, therefore,, 

 now proceed to keep my promise. In the paragraph 

 referred to I stated that it began to be manufactured 

 in Trinidad a short time before my advent. In that I 

 was mistaken, it should have been a short time after. 

 It has a very interesting history which I will now 

 proceed to relate. 



The name Angostura was given to it by its in- 

 ventor, Dr. J. G. B. Siegert, after the town of Angos- 

 tura where he then lived. 



Dr. Siegert was a German and studied in Lieg- 

 nitz in the Province of Silesia in Prussia and after 

 completing his education served as a surgeon in the 

 army of the then Kingdom of Prussia. 



Attracted by the war for freedom in Venezuela, 

 he embarked early in the year 1820, accompanied by 

 several belligerent comrades — among whom were 

 many men of great note — for the purpose of espous- 

 ing the cause of the Liberator, General Simon 

 Bolivar. The enrollment was gladly accepted by the 

 General at Angostura, on the River Orinoco, the 

 capital of the then Province of Guayana, where Dr. 

 Siegert was appointed by General Bolivar, Surgeon- 

 General of the military hospital of the province. 



He settled in Angostura and practised as physi- 

 cian and surgeon until 1859, when he resigned his 

 practice ; during the long years of which he had won 

 the respect and esteem of his fellow-citizens and 

 countrymen. 



That Dr. Siegert was a man of great scientific 

 attainments is evidenced by the fact that in 1838 he 



