=Adjutant= (from _adjuvo_, “to help”). A regimental staff-officer with the rank of lieutenant, appointed by the regimental commander to assist him in the execution of all the details of the regiment or post. He is the channel of official communication. It is his duty to attend daily on the commanding officer for orders or instructions of any kind that are to be issued to the command, and promulgate the same in writing after making a complete record thereof. He has charge of the books, files, and men of the headquarters; keeps the rosters; parades and inspects all escorts, guards, and other armed parties previous to their proceeding on duty. He should be competent to instruct a regiment in every part of the field exercise, should understand the internal economy of his corps, and should notice every irregularity or deviation from the established rules or regulations. He should, of course, be an officer of experience, and should be selected with reference to special fitness, as so much depends upon his manner and thoughtfulness in the exercise of the various and important duties imposed upon him. Unexceptionable deportment is especially becoming to the adjutant. =Adjutant-General.= An officer of distinction selected to assist the general of an army in all his operations. The principal staff-officer of the U. S. army. The principal staff-officers of generals of lower rank are called assistant adjutant-generals. =Adjutant-General’s Department.= In the United States, consists of 1 adjutant-general with the rank of brigadier-general; 2 assistant adjutant-generals, colonels; 4 lieutenant-colonels, and 10 majors; also about 400 enlisted clerks and messengers. The officers are generally on duty with general officers who command corps, divisions, departments, etc. “They shall also perform the duties of inspectors when circumstances require it.” The lowest grades must be selected from the captains of the army. =Administration.= Conduct, management; in military affairs, the execution of the duties of an office. =Administration, Council of.= A board of officers periodically assembled at a post for the administration of certain business. =Admissions.= In a military sense, the judge-advocate is authorized when he sees proper to admit what a prisoner expects to prove by absent witnesses. =Adobe= (_Sp._). An unburnt brick, dried in the sun, made from earth of a loamy character, containing about two-thirds fine sand mixed intimately with one-third or less of clayey dust or fine sand. =Adour.= A river in the southwest of France, which Lord Wellington, after driving the armies of Napoleon Bonaparte across the Pyrenees, passed in the face of all opposition, on the 26th of February, 1814. =Adrana.= A river in Germany, at present called Eder. Germanicus defeated the Germans on its bank in 15.