Montluçon

Montluçon, a town in the French department of Allier, on a castle-crowned hill whose base is washed by the Cher, 202 miles S. of Paris. It owes its rapid development to the opening up of the Commeny coalfield, and has large iron-works and plate-glass manufactories. Pop. (1872) 20,251; (1891) 26,019. Nériss-les-Bains, 18 miles SE., is the Nerionagus of the Romans—of whom many traces are left—and since 1821 has again risen into repute through its warm alkaline mineral waters (126° F.). Pop. 1675.