During the cholera pandemics that threatened Germany, there were instances when specific locations far from the national borders and cholera outbreaks were affected, without Germany showing any inclination towards the development of cholera. For example, in 1865, Altenburg was infected from Odessa; however, this led only to a minor epidemic in the Pleisse Valley in Altenburg and Werdau. Near the populated Mainz, and with completely unrestricted traffic to and from it, the villages of Finthen and Gonsenheim experienced an epidemic in 1886, the source of which could not be definitively determined, while the nearest cholera outbreaks were in Hungary and Italy. Despite completely free movement, there was no spread of the disease, and no one can attribute any value to the late and highly inadequate disinfection and quarantine measures taken at that time for the localization of the outbreak.

In August 1892, Hamburg faced the misfortune of being unexpectedly struck by a severe cholera epidemic, at a time when the nearest outbreak sources were in Russia and France, so far away that no German city at that distance was adequately prepared for a serious outbreak of cholera.

The Verlag der Wissenschaften publishes historical literature by both well-known and lesser-known scientific authors. This makes works that have long been out of print accessible to interested readers again. This book on the cholera epidemic in Hamburg in 1892 presents observations and experiments regarding the causes, control, and treatment of Asian cholera and is an unaltered reprint of the original edition from 1893.