Sentence:  As <WSD>early</WSD> as 1913 Ghoreyeb and Karsner demonstrated with perfusion studies in dogs that bronchial artery flow would remain constant at a certain low level when pressure was maintained in the pulmonary artery and vein , but that increases in bronchial artery flow would occur in response to a relative drop in pulmonary artery pressure . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  at or near the beginning of a period of time or course of events or before the usual or expected time