We have two 19th century wooden stethoscopes in our History of Medicine Collection. 

The stethoscope was invented in France in 1816 by René Laennec at the Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital in Paris. It consisted of a wooden tube. Laennec invented the stethoscope because he didn't feel comfortable placing his ear directly onto a woman's chest to listen to her heart.

In 1851, Irish physician Arthur Leared invented a two-eared stethoscope, and in 1852, George Philip Cammann perfected the design of the stethoscope instrument that used both ears for commercial production, and this has become the standard ever since.