Vals

Vals (Vals-les-Bains), a village of south-western France, in the department of Ardeche, 3 m. N.N.W. of Aubenas, with which it communicates by tramway. Pop. (1906) town, 2694; commune, 4352.4352. Vals is situated on the Volane amongst volcanic mountains. It is celebrated for its numerous cold mineral springs impregnated in most cases with bicarbonate of soda. They are used chiefly for drinking but also as baths, and are efficacious in maladies of the digestion, liver and kidneys, and for gravel and gout. Seven or eight million bottles annually are exported. Wood-turning and silk-milling are carried on.