1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Bagnères-de-Luchon

BAGNÈRES-DE-LUCHON, a town of south-western France, in the department of Haute-Garonne, 87 m. S.S.W. of Toulouse, on a branch line of the Southern railway from Montréjeau. Pop. (1906) 3448. The town is situated at the foot of the central Pyrenees in a beautiful valley at the confluence of the One and the Pique. It is celebrated for its thermal springs and as a fashionable resort. Of the promenades the finest and most frequented are the Allées d'Etigny, an avenue planted with lime-trees, at the southern extremity of which is the Thermes, or bathing-establishment, one of the most complete in existence. The springs, which number 48, vary in composition, but are chiefly impregnated with sulphate of sodium, and range in temperature from 62° to 150°. A large casino was opened in the town in 1877. The discovery of numerous Roman remains attests the antiquity of the baths, which are identified with the Onesiorum Thermae of Strabo. Their revival in modern times dates from the latter half of the 18th century, and was due to Antoine Mégret d'Etigny, intendant of Auch.