James Scott was a physician who, according to William C. C. Claiborne, quickly attracted “a considerable share of the public notice and respect” by introducing the smallpox vaccine in New Orleans and along the coast in the summer of 1804. Following his standard policy, TJ did not write letters of introduction for him (Rowland, Claiborne Letter Books description begins Dunbar Rowland, ed., The Official Letter Books of W. C. C. Claiborne, 1801-1816, Jackson, Miss., 1917, 6 vols. description ends , 2:256; John Duffy, ed., The Rudolph Matas History of Medicine in Louisiana, 2 vols. [Baton Rouge, 1958-62], 1:372-4; TJ to Claiborne, 17 July 1804; Claiborne to TJ, 8 Sep. 1804).