Scottish inventor James Watt was a mechanical engineer who radically improved the steam engine. He also helped Humphry Davy build a unique nitrous oxide chamber so Davy could research the gas. Davy is better know as a chemist than an exponent of philosophical idealism, but on emerging from the chamber, Davy once exclaimed: "Nothing exists but thoughts. The universe is composed of impressions, ideas, pleasure and pain."Gregory Watt, a son of James Watt, introduced Davy to Thomas Beddoes.