Halfway up the staircase is a sort of buttress, which serves as a pedestal for a group representing, on the south side of the hall, Africa and America, and on the other side, Europe and Asia. The four continents are typified, very delightfully, by little boys, about three feet high, seated by the side of a large marble globe, on which appear the portions of the earth’s surface which they are intended to personify. _America_ is an Indian, with a tall headdress of feathers, a bow and arrow, and a wampum necklace. With one hand he shades his eyes while he gazes intently into the distance, awaiting, one may fancy, the coming of his conqueror, the white man. _Africa_ is a little negro, with a war-club and his savage necklace of wild beasts’ claws. _Asia_ is a Mongolian, dressed in flowing silk robes, the texture of which, as the visitor will notice, is very perfectly indicated by arranging the folds of the marble so that they receive the proper play of light and shade. In the background is a sort of dragon-shaped jar of porcelain. _Europe_ is clad in the conventional classic costume, and has a lyre and a book; and a Doric column is introduced beside him--the three objects symbolizing, specifically, Music, Literature, and Architecture, and, more broadly, the pre-eminence of the Caucasian races in the arts of civilization generally, just as the dragon-jar on the other side of the globe stands for the admirable ceramic art of China and Japan; and, also, as the wampum and bow of the Indian indicate his advance in culture over the stage of evolution typified by the rude war-club and savage necklace of the negro. The balustrade of the top landing on either side is ornamented with the figures of three children in relief representing certain of the Fine Arts. In the south staircase, beginning at the left as one looks up from the floor, are _Comedy_, _Poetry_, and _Tragedy_. The first has a comic mask and the thyrsus or ivy-wreathed wand of Bacchus, to whom the first comedies were dedicated. _Poetry_ has a scroll, and _Tragedy_ the tragic mask. Opposite, the figures, taking them again from left to right, represent _Painting_, with palette and brushes; _Architecture_, with compasses and a scroll, and behind him the pediment of a Greek temple; and _Sculpture_, modelling a statuette. [Illustration: DETAIL OF THE GRAND STAIRCASE.]