William Tyler Olcott

“ Irmin was said to possess a ponderous chariot, in which he rode across the sky along the path which we know as the Milky Way, but which the ancient Germans called "Irmin's Way."
In the history of all nations and in all ages we find the Galaxy likened to a way, a road, or a pathway to the land of the hereafter.
Allen thinks that this universal idea may have come from the fancy that the heavenly way, crowded with stars, resembled the earthly road crowded with pilgrims. ”

“ According to a French tale, the stars in the Milky Way are lights held by angel spirits to show mortals the way to heaven.
The Greeks called the Galaxy "the road to the Palace of Heaven." Along this road stand the palaces of the illustrious gods, while the common people of the skies live on either side of them.
The Algonquin Indians believed that this was the Path of Souls leading to the villages in the sun. As the spirits travel along the pathway their blazing camp-fires may be seen as bright stars. ”

“ Russell writing of this region says: "Here the Milky Way is crossed by a dark streak which immediately suggests a passing cloud. But, year in and year out, on the clearest nights, the dark region is there. Its origin must be interstellar space—perhaps in an actual thinning of the stars of the Galaxy, perhaps in the interposition of some cosmic cloud of overwhelming vast dimensions."
Many think the Galaxy a universe by itself and our sun one of its myriad stars. ”