George C. Comstock may be mentioned. Starting with
the data (first) that the number of stars increases as the Milky Way
is approached, and reaches a maximum in its plane, while on the other
hand the number of nebul? is greatest outside the Milky Way and
increases with distance from it, and (second) that the Milky Way,
although a complete ring, is broad and diffuse on one side through
one-half its course -- that half alone containing nebul? -- and
relatively narrow and well defined on the opposite side, the author of
this singular speculation avers that these facts can best be explained
by supposing that the invisible universe consists of two
interpenetrating parts, one of which is a chaos of indefinite extent,
strewn with stars and nebulous dust, and the other a long, broad but
comparatively thin cluster of stars, including the sun as one of its
central members. This flat star-cluster is conceived to be moving
edgewise through the chaos, and, according to Professor Comstock, it
acts after the manner of a snow-plough sweeping away the cosmic dust
and piling it on either hand above and below the plane of the moving
cluster. It thus forms a transparent rift, through which we see
farther and command a view of more stars than through the intensified
dust-clouds on either hand.
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