the venerable lord kelvin , who , notwithstanding his age , and his pacific disposition , proper to a man of science , had behaved with the courage and coolness of a veteran in every crisis ; monsieur moissan , the eminent chemist ; prof. sylvanus p. thompson , and the heidelberg professor , to whom we all felt under special obligations because he had opened to our comprehension the charming lips of ainaall these had survived , and were about to return with us to the earth .