Newton and the Journal Article

According to Sepper, Newton's letter to the Henry Oldenbourg is "the first great specimen" of the journal article, a style of writing used in the scientific community. Sepper praises the clarity of Newton's writing, adding that it needs hardly any commentary. However, Sepper also conjectures that the letter is not strictly factual and represents more of a "dramatic reconstruction" than a "literal account." For example, Newton presents his findings as the results of playful experiment, when he actually possessed sophisticated knowledge of prisms before conducting the experiments.

Perhaps this dramatic presentation allows Newton to communicate more effectively with his audience (although he also leaves out some principles that he considers too elementary to include), but I wonder if such writing is really appropriate for science. Specifically, when presenting an experiment, I think it might be important to adhere to the truth as much as possible. Galileo and other scientists have been guilty of similar transgressions, fudging results that sometimes are actually accurate, but sometimes not.

So what is the proper style for a piece of scientific writing?