This auroscope was invented by John Brunton (1835–1899), a licentiate of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and a well-respected medical practitioner with a particular interest in diseases of the ear.

It consists of a tube with a funnel shaped reflector for collecting and concentrating rays of light, set at a right angle to the tube. A specula was fitted at one end of the tube. This particular set has three speculae. At the other end of the tube there is an eye-piece for the observer.

Inside the body of the auroscope a concave mirror with a hole in the centre lies at an angle of 45°. Rays of light are let in at the side of the tube, through the funnel reflector. These rays then fall onto the mirror, are reflected into the ear, and then are carried back to the eye of the observer through the hole in the mirror, being magnified by the lens of the eye-piece.

Dr Brunton devised his own instrument because he had experienced difficulties when examining patient’s ears with ordinary aural instruments. Such difficulties included the problems of the observer’s head obstructing the light source and the observer’s eye being unable to get close enough to the object of study to permit minute examination. John Brunton believed that his auroscope improved upon previous aural instruments and he counted among its advantages its simplicity of construction and ease of use.