In general, readers today have a better understanding of science than readers

in 1898. How would the tone of the passage's narrator have affected readers

in 1898 versus readers today?

it would have seemed more exciting

Back then, knowledge was around noble classes, so it was a very small circle that must know Latin to understand some written work.

Nowadays, magazines and internet took this difficult articles, wrote them in a nice soft language and presents to ordinary people the idea of the scientific article, without using the experiments and so. Because of that, it's easier to understand.

Besides, scientific investments has grown more than ever in 21 century. We have more knowledge than ever!