of the asylum were soldiers of twenty years' service and men, whether pensioners or not, who have been disabled by wounds or disease in the service in the line of duty. An honorable discharge is a preliminary requisite to admission. The inmates are all thus civilians. At first the general in chief, the generals commanding the Eastern and Western military divisions, the chiefs of the quartermaster's, commissary, pay, and medical departments, and the adjutant general of the army composed the board of commissioners _ex officio_ to administer the affairs of the institution. An unexpended balance of fifty-four thousand three hundred and nineteen dollars and twenty-three cents was appropriated "for the benefit of discharged soldiers disabled by wounds." A perpetual revenue was provided from "stoppages and fines imposed by court-martial," "forfeitures on account of desertion," a certain portion of the hospital and post fund of each station, moneys belonging to the estates of deceased soldiers not claimed for three years; also a deduction of twenty-five cents per month with his consent from the pay of each enlisted man. The act of Congress of March 3, 1859, changed the provisions of the original act and reduced the number of commissioners to three--the commissary general of subsistence, the surgeon general, and the adjutant general of the army, substituted the name of "Soldiers' Home" for "Military Asylum," and extended the benefits of the Home to the soldiers of the War of 1812. The act of Congress of March 3, 1883, added the general in chief commanding the army, the quartermaster general, the judge advocate general, and the governor of the Home to the board of commissioners; these officers, together with those already named, compose the board. By the same act pensioners who are inmates of the Home may assign their pension and have the same or any portion thereof paid to a wife, child, or parent if living; otherwise the pension is paid to the treasurer of the Home and held by him in trust for the pensioner, who may, while an inmate, draw upon it for necessary purposes, and receive whatever balance may remain upon his discharge.