An important event in the development of nematology occurred in 1907, when N. A. Cobb joined the U.S.Department of Agriculture.Cobb had secured his doctorate at Jena in 1889, after which he worked in Italy for a short time. Here he collected nematodes, some of which hemounted in balsam; so expertly were the slides made that the specimens are still in excellent condition. He then proceeded to Australia, but failingto find professional employment he sold watches until an opening was available in the New South Wales Department of Agriculture. His firstpaper on plant parasitic nematodes, "Tylenchus and Root Galls," appeared in the Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales (1890). Apparently,at that time he did not know that the names Heterodera and Meloidogyne had already been proposed for the gall-forming nematodes
        About 10 years later he became associated with the Experiment Station of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association, where he investigatedthe nematodes found in sugar cane fields. Here he began developing equipment for microscopy, fitting the windows with special shades andreflectors to control lighting while working over the microscope and making camera lucida drawings. Much of this equipment is still preserved atthe station.
        His first assignment in the U.S. Department of Agriculture was the standardization of cotton grades, which were published in 1907. About1910 he succeeded in transferring his attention to nematodes. His first paper, "New Nematode Genera Found Inhabiting Fresh-water andNon-brackish Soils," was published in 1913. From that time on, a long series of important papers came from his versatile pen. Among his writingsContributions to a Science of Nematology is the most outstanding. It was Cobb who proposed that plant parasitic and free-living nematodes beremoved from helminthology and be assigned to a new branch of science to be known as "nematology." He also proposed that "nema" besubstituted for "nematode," and it is most unfortunate that this suggestion has not met with general acceptance. His ingenious nature was thendirected to the development of equipment and techniques necessary to separate nematodes from soil and prepare them for microscopic study. Hislaboratory manual "Estimating the Nema Population of Soil" (1918) formed the basis for a large portion of the methods and apparatus used innematology today.
        Studies on the minute morphological details of plant parasitic nematodes occupied much of his time, with special reference to those organswhich he named "amphids," "phasmids," and "deirids." To secure a better perspective on their morphology, he studied the large marine species, onwhich details were much more easily observed, and for this purpose he spent several summers at the Bureau of Fisheries Station at Woods Hole,Massachusetts. Those who were fortunate enough to be included on these expeditions will ever remember those halcyon days of nematology.
        Cobb's interests were not confined to nematology and microscopy but extended to photography of birds and insects and the development ofspecial equipment for photomicrography and other microscopic work, , such as the installation of heavy pipes filled with concrete to reducevibration during such work. Often these devices resulted in weird and complicated assemblies, for he seemed to lack the ability to simplify eitherapparatus or procedures. His laboratories were always a show place of revolving tables with several microscopes on each and special devices toperform laboratory techniques. Probably his most useful invention was the metal microscopic slide, which many of us prefer to the conventionalglass type. Another important contribution was the use of a simple beam splitter and large mirror to replace the old-type camera lucida.
        His genial and humorous nature will ever be remembered, especially by those who were present at a certain meeting of the HelminthologicalSociety of Washington. He appeared with numerous boxes and cartons which contained "A Collection of Holes," which he had assembled duringhis travels, and on them he proceeded to deliver a solemn and profound dissertation which rocked the audience with laughter. This was probablya satire on certain members of the society who always had entirely too much to say about things of which they knew little or nothing. His suddendeath at the age of seventy-three terminated all too soon an important period in the development of the science of nematology. No other individualhas had a more profound and permanent influence on the profession than N. A. Cobb.
         Associated with Cobb during those early eventful years was W. E. Chambers, artist and microscopist. From his gifted hands nematologyreceived the finest illustrations of nematodes that have ever been made, and it is doubtful that they will ever again be equaled. Cobb's microscopicability and unusual ingenuity, coupled with the artistry of Ghambers, established a new era in nematology on which our present science is largelyfounded, not only in America but in all parts of the world. Among the early contemporaries of Cobb in the U.S. Department of Agriculture wefind Ernst A. Bessey, soon after the turn of the century, working on root-knot nematodes. His report (1911) included a review of the principalwork done up to that time and included considerable original research. This paper still remains one of the outstanding contributions to ourinformation on this group.